Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul
by MeatBomb
Summary: Hideki must not only care for and nurture Chii's heart and soul, but must also learn to provide for her physical needs and routine maintenance.
1. Swords Into Ploughshares

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

Authors Note: First: I. Am. Not. A. Writer. This is my first attempt at any fiction, ever, period.  
I'm always fascinated at the "genealogy" of Sci-Fi technology, such as androids, and after watching the wonderful Chobits anime, pondered on what the forerunners of the persocom might be. I went so far as to make notes n'stuff. After finding this most excellent repository of literature, I decided to give it a go. Be gentle. Keep it simple. Like I said, not a writer. If you're going to flame, don't bother; a simple "Stop writing now!" will get your point across, without wasting your time explaining technical and style errors to someone who is unlikely to understand what you mean.

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul.

Chitose Hibiya set the tea tray on the table, gracefully seating herself opposite her guests. Glancing across the table as she poured, she allowed herself a gentle smile at her blissful "daughter", Chii, and Chii's "only one", Hideki Motosuwa.

It had been two months since Hibiya witnessed the departure of her daughters, Freya and Elda, and almost simultaneous rebirth of Chii, embodied in the persocon who now sat with Hideki. Since that night, now publicly referred to as "The Persocom Event", Chii's learning accelerated, and her personality and confidence blossomed.

For two days after she found her "only one", she would not be separated from Hideki while in his presence. Sitting or standing, anytime he wasn't actually in motion, she was beside him, draping one of his arms around her, and clamping her own firmly about his torso, with her head tucked under his chin. While they had shared a futon since the night Hideki activated her, there was now not a single morning Hideki awoke without Chii nestled peacefully in his arms. No matter how he fell asleep, somehow Chii managed to slip comfortably into his embrace, never waking him as she did. It was not something Hideki could see any sort of downside to. She was, after a couple of days, able to understand his need to go to cram school, work, or the baths unadorned by his persocom, and learned quickly that the emptiness of his absence disappeared utterly when she had the opportunity to fling herself into his arms, and bask in his embrace anew.

Now, Hibiya noted, while Chii still needed the assurance of Hideki's touch, she seemed satisfied to be seated beside him, effectively glued together from hip to shoulder, both of her slender hands enfolding one of his on her lap.

Tonight was Hideki's "persocom lesson", a twice-a-week ritual that began shortly after that night two months ago. Hideki and Hibiya agreed that he should at least be able to minimally maintain her physical form, and perform simple debug tasks. Hibiya, Chii's programmer, and Minoru Kokubunji, the genius pre-teen who constructed his own household staff of custom persocoms, alternately schooled Hideki on minor repairs, configuration, cleaning, protection from elements and damage, and the like. On one previous occasion, Hibiya waved Hideki and Chii away from the concealed entrance to her laboratory, and to her apartment instead, where they simply talked, and drank tea. Hibiya wanted both Hideki and Chii to simply discuss with her their feelings for each other, saying it was important that Chii learn to verbalize her fears, desires, and emotions; also that some of them (such as anger) were inappropriate to express physically. Hibiya said she would do this from time to time, emphasizing that Chii was so much more than a simple persocom, and Hideki needed to maintain her heart and soul, as well as her body.

When Hibiya again waved them over to her quarters, rather than opening the entrance to the lab below, Hideki grinned, and quipped, "More couples' counseling tonight Hibiya-sensei?"

"Not tonight, Hideki-san. The lesson plan tonight calls for a little bit of a history lesson."

Hideki groaned inwardly, recalling his last cram-school History exam, and how hard he had to study to just _barely_ pass it. Chii, somehow sensing his deflation, looked up encouragingly.

"Hideki will do fine. Ch…I believe in Hideki."

Seated comfortably, and tea poured, Hibiya started by asking, "Why don't you tell me what you already know about persocoms, and we'll start from there?"

"Well", started her pupil, "I do know that persocoms we developed as a way for people to bring all of their available computing power along with them, without bags, boxes, or hand trucks to carry. They were made to be solar-rechargeable, and to look at least a little bit like people, at first. Weren't they originally adapted from industrial androids, like the ones that replaced industrial robot arms on the assembly lines?"

"A good start", Hibiya smiled, "But, in reality, persocoms were almost directly adapted from the modern combat android."

"_Combat android_?!" Hideki stopped himself, just in time, from looking at Chii with a mixture of horror and fascination on his face. Only after he relaxed his face into an encouraging smile did he turn to meet Chii's questioning gaze. Returning his attention to Hibiya, he asked, "Why combat androids? Wouldn't industrial androids make a better choice?"

"Not at all", was the reply. Hibiya continued, "And I'll tell you why…"

"First, combat androids actually preceded the industrial models by a few years. As is the case with any emerging technology, the most advanced and effective implementations are proven in military use, before becoming available to the general public. So, industrial androids were actually adapted, like persocoms, from the military models, just to a separate purpose.

"The military models were designed to be stronger, more dexterous, and more agile than humans but not excessively so. A balance was sought so that the combat androids could exceed human performance on the battlefield, and still be equipped with standard weaponry and equipment. As with the now-obsolete main battle tanks of the 21st century, fighting androids rely on a balance of three factors for their battlefield survivability: firepower, mobility, protection. Firepower is easy to balance. As the androids are designed to function as a human surrogate, they need only be equipped with any weapons already produced for human use.

"For mobility, it was necessary to keep a strict balance between the weight of armor and firepower, and the availability of power, which is an android's only source of mobility. The power source of a combat android is completely self-contained, due to the requirement to operate across a potentially very wide area. As a field recharger might be dozens of kilometers away, with enemy forces to fight on the way, there had to be a backup to direct-on-line charging.

"What do you think that might be?" she asked.

Hideki snapped his fingers in realization. "Solar power, just like a persocom!" he beamed.

"Correct!" Hibiya smiled at the pair across the table.

"Now consider the industrial model of androids. When placed in a facility and programmed for their work, there is not much requirement for them to move very long distances, and certainly no need to exceed human norms for agility. Their design is optimized for maximum strength, at the cost of increased weight. Since they have a limited work area, power to recharge can be made readily available; they can even be externally powered by the use of umbilical cables. If you consider strength and manual dexterity to be an industrial android's 'firepower', you can see that the balance is sacrificed in favor of firepower at the cost of its weight and mobility.

"Remember that mobility for both industrial and military androids is artificially limited, for safety reasons. If an industrial android leaves the facility in which it works, due to error or malfuntion, it has built-in features to disable its motor control. Military androids have the same feature, but are allowed to range over a theatre of operations, rather than a single facility. Military androids have the added liability that they will self-destruct in this event, to prevent their technology from becoming available to the enemy. Only persocoms enjoy unlimited freedom of movement. Still, they are much closer to combat models than industrial models in this respect."

"But what if a persocom malfunctions? What stops them from running amok and doing a lot of damage?" asked Hideki.

"The same thing that stops any of us humans. They can be subdued without heroic efforts or flashy weaponry, and that is by design.", Hibiya replied. "Think about it, Hideki-chan.", she continued, "If Chii's personality were to be somehow transferred to a combat android, I have little doubt you would be dead from a crushed rib cage, at the very least. It's _possible_ for her to hurt you as she is now, but only to the same extent that capability would exist in a human of similar size and frame."

Chii, sensing the implications of her Hibiya's last statement, squeezed Hideki's hand more firmly, making a soft sound of dismay.

"Not that that she would ever knowingly do so, of course.", Hibiya added quickly, as Hideki moved to wrap a comforting arm around his Chii.

"When approvals were sought to market persocoms for the general public, it was dictated that they not exceed human norms for weight or strength. Since they are able to roam freely, unlike the industrial or combat androids that are their ancestors, it was decided to design persocoms to approximate human parameters, not exceed them. They have 'armor' protecting their vital components, but is no more or less protective than our own skulls or ribs, protecting our brains and internal organs. They are able to withstand environmental extremes that would injure or kill a human, but they are by no means invulnerable."

"This is very interesting, Hibiya-sensei, but why to I need to know all this stuff?", asked Hideki.

Hibiya looked very serious now. "To impress upon you the need for your undivided attention when you are learning the technical skills you need from myself and Minoru-san. Chii is a wonderful, loving person, who has given you her heart and soul. And I am satisfied that she could have made no better choice. But...you must always remember that she is here with you in the physical form of a machine. A machine that is entrusted to your care, both by Chii and myself. She's your responsibility now; heart, soul, and body. I have no fears for her heart and soul with you, Hideki. Just promise me you'll be as gentle and attentive to her physical requirements."

Hideki, now blushing furiously with his nose tingling, simply nodded.

"More tea?", Hibiya asked innocently.


	2. Touched By An Angel

Authors Note: Balance. Compromise. Not only applicable to combat equipment, but to every human endeavor, from relationships and personal interactions, to the data and quantity-driven world of engineering and technology. I truly hope Hideki was insightful enough to see that Hibiya wasn't just reciting dry history of technology.

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read Chapter 1, and special thanks to those who reviewed. Your feedback is definitely appreciated.

* * *

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul Chapter 2

* * *

_Hibiya looked very serious now. "To impress upon you the need for your undivided attention when you are learning the technical skills you need from myself and Minoru-san. Chii is a wonderful, loving person, who has given you her heart and soul. And I am satisfied that she could have made no better choice. But...you must always remember that she is here with you in the physical form of a machine. A machine that is entrusted to your care, both by Chii and myself. She's your responsibility now; heart, soul, and body. I have no fears for her heart and soul with you, Hideki. Just promise me you'll be as gentle and attentive to her physical requirements."_

_Hideki, now blushing furiously with his nose tingling, simply nodded._

_"More tea?", Hibiya asked innocently._

---

Hideki grabbed the teacup and moved it furtively to his lips, as if hoping it was large enough to hide the embarrassed flush on his features.

Hibiya sighed inwardly. _Kami, why me? _She fixed Hideki with an unreadable stare, "Young _man_, it's time you stopped this nonsense and started to grow up! It was endearing in it's own way while Chii was unaware of her effect on you, but enough is enough! She may not _yet_ appreciate why teenage boys bleed from the nose in certain situations, but she is _fully_ aware that the flow of blood from a human is a sign of injury and pain! Would you have her believe that she's hurting you as she learns (and she will) more about physical expressions of love?"

_Oh, that was a little little harsher than I intended..._ thought Hibiya.

Hideki, stunned into sensibility by the outburst, bowed until his chin touched his chest, "_Gomen nesai_, Hibiya-sensei. I never thought...I never considered...I..."

"It's alright, Hideki. I didn't mean to be quite so short with you, but you need to understand that you and Chii's journey is not yet complete, but only just now beginning. Her love has just now awakened for you, and like any of us in early morning, is rubbing the sleep from its eyes, and starting to become aware of it's existence and surroundings. It will grow according to how it's fed and nurtured...by you. It's time for you to put childish things aside, and become a man, while you teach her to become a woman."

"But...does that mean I have to... that I should...", Hideki was unsure of how to ask what he really needed to, but Hibiya broke in.

"If you're asking about physical intimacy, not yet. Neither of you are ready for that, _ne_?", Hibiyi interrupted. "Even I am unsure of the road ahead for the two of you, so my only advice for now is that you take small steps, and pause often to evaluate both your emotional and physical relationship. While I can't predict for sure what happens beyond this point, it may help you a little to know how you got here, and why."

"When Ichiro and I first undertook the steps to develop the Chobits project, it was our intent from the beginning that they would have the potential to be emotionally aware. This, of course, introduced a complication from the outset. All you have to do is walk through the park and observe the couples you see there to understand what it is: we humans communicate much of our affection and emotion to other humans by way of touch. The sense of touch itself is the most comprehensive and complicated of our senses. Different types of nerve endings pick up the different types of stimulus and transmit the signals to our nervous system to be interpreted by the brain. Krause's ends detect cold, while Ruffini endings pick up heat. Pacinian corpuscles respond to pressure, and Meissner's corpuscles are sensitive to light and touch. Keratin, found on the surface of our skin, produces detectable electrical charges when the dermis is bent or folded, passing more signals to the nerve endings found there. And of all of our senses, the interpretation of touch is most directly impacted and filtered by our emotions and experiences. Even our judgement of "hot" and "cold" is dictated by which stimulus we last received.

"No persocon yet developed ever needed such a complicated network of sensors and processing support. Most of what was done prior was simply dedicated to diagnostics, and avoidance of physical damage, both to themselves and their surroundings. Persocons cannot feel "burn", per se, but are able to recognize and react when they are in contact with a source of heat sufficient to cause them damage. Most of the sense of "touch" that they have is a rudimentary sense of pressure, most sensitive in their hands and fingers, to allow them to handle delicate objects without breaking them. We had to design, from scratch, an artificial analogue of skin that could respond in much the same way as a human's, including the variations in sensitivity that are common to the human body."

"But..." Hideki took advantage of her pause to interject, "she seems to know about affectionate touching, and hugging. She _knows_ what it means to touch and be touched, it seems. Still like a small child gives and receives affection, but she is aware of the meaning, isn't she?"

Hibiya paused, pursing her lips in thought, before continuing.

"Let's just say, she's learning. Programming a fully developed emotional framework for her sense of touch was a task quite beyond both Ichan's abilities and mine. And, as Freya and Elda were to be like daughters to us, we wanted them to learn and grow as children do. The only way to approach the problem was to incorporate the interpretation of touch directly into the learning framework of her emotional development. What we gave them from the outset was a set of "instinctive" drives, much the same as an infant's. A desire to explore the world around them through the sense of touch, and a sense of safety and security that could be triggered by certain types of touch, like holding a hand, receiving or giving a hug. When you first activated her, her sense of touch was a tool for her alone to experience the world, and to seek solace from an unfamiliar environment.

"But as the two of you grew closer, I could see she was using her sense of touch differently. She was learning the importance of touch to not only herself, but to the human in her life. She started to touch you, not for her comfort, but for yours. She started to interpret your reactions to her touch, and learned to be comforting, supportive, and affectionate, even though she could not articulate those to you. I have to admit that I was skeptical about this at first, believing that perhaps she was simply imitating affectionate gestures she had seen and respond to a perceived need of her master.

"All my disbelief vanished when Chii tried to learn how to cook for you. You had refused to accept the money she offered you, from her bakery job, even when you were going hungry. You told her that the money was for her to make herself happy, remember? I was both joyful and terribly frightened for her that day. She made the leap, emotionally, to empathy and compassion, and translated it into action from self-sacrifice. She connected her own happiness to your well-being, and acted upon it. She was already wondering if you were her "only one", and taking steps. It also made her terribly vulnerable, at that point."

Hideki goggled at her. "You mean she would have...gone that far..?"

"Possibly", was Hibiya's answer. "She does have some built-in defences against that, but remember, she now understands, and is capable of, subordinating her own happiness to yours. I am happy to see that you are able to reciprocate."

"Well, isn't that what true love is?" Hideki's face was suddenly a maelstrom of conflicting emotion. He had another question, obviously. Hibiya waited patiently. "Is there...um...any way she can...um...", Hideki wound up his nerves and continued, "...experience anything like physical pleasure? For herself?"

Again, Hibiya needed to pause and think for a moment, before she answered. "I cannot be certain, but there is a relatively safe way to find out. Finish your tea while I get something." She rose from the table, disappearing into her bedroom, while Hideki finished the last of his tea, and rose to stretch his legs.

When she returned, she was carrying a brown paper bag, bearing the stamp of the bookstore that Hideki and Chii frequently visited. "Take this, read it, and then allow Chii to do the same. And remember what I said about small steps."

Back in his apartment, Hideki allowed Chii to move the table and retrieve the futon from its closet while he extracted the contents of the bag. His nose threatened to gush as he read the cover:

The Book Of Massage: The Complete Step-by-step Guide To Eastern And Western Technique


	3. Chii Hides

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: So far, so good. I haven't received any strident admonitions to stop writing altogether, and the feedback I've received is generally positive. (I'm working on a fix for the out-of-canon universe criticism I've received.) So, I guess I'll just keep going. Constructive criticism and advice welcome, either by review or PM.

* * *

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul Chapter 3

Sensory inputs rushed in as Chii returned to wakefulness, and processed her surroundings. She was at home, lying on the futon, wrapped safely in Hideki's arms, just like every morning for the past two months.

"_How does he always end up with his arms around us like that, without ever waking us up?" _she asked herself. _"No matter how we fall asleep, we always wake up in the same embrace. It _is_ a nice way to wake up, though."_

Chii turned carefully to spend a few moments gazing into the face of her Only One, studying his features, pleased to see the serenity and contentment that was written there. His sleep since that night on the roof of the apartment house was not always content, or peaceful. The first night he had the nightmare, Chii was roused by the flailing and cries of her Only One. She was appalled to see the face she adored twisted into a grimace of anguish and misery. She spent that entire night kneeling at the head of the futon, cradling his head on her lap and stroking his hair, trying frantically to soothe the suffering young man. She spent the entire following day connected to the Internet, downloading megabyte after megabyte of data on dreams and nightmares, her queries consistently leading to data on something called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Something, she resolved, she would need to research further. He never seemed to remember having the nightmare, but Chii took note that on the days after the dreams, Hideki would not have a very good day, either at school or at work. After that day, Chii adjusted her systems to wake her immediately when he started to show signs of the nightmares returning, so she could intervene, and help keep his demons at bay.

"_What happened that night to scar you so deeply?" _she thought_. "It was a happy night, was it not? Did we not both find our Only Ones that night?"_

"_**Did he not face the loss of his Only One that night?" **_Her now-familiar Chorus of voices from deep within responded to her thoughts. _"__**Was he not forced to watch as we were taken away from him?" **_The echoing voices of Freya and Elda combined to speak to her._**  
**_

Gently, as not to wake him, Chii extracted herself from Hideki's arms and sat up, gazing once more at his sleeping form before starting breakfast. Moving quietly to the kitchen area, she began her preparations, and was soon lost in thought, recalling the conversation the Hideki had with Mother the night before. The solitude and quiet of her reverie was broken by the sound of Sumomo activating, and starting her daily routine. Springing to life, the tiny, lavender-and-plum-clad mobile persocon blew her whistle, mercilessly rousing the bleary-eyed Hideki, and led him through a hyperactive sequence of calisthenics. _"We think it's time Hideki reviewed her data file capacity again."_ Chii reflected wryly. _"We know of at least _one_ program we can afford to delete from long-term storage…"_

Breakfast was ready just as Hideki, apparently having absorbed enough abuse from Sumomo's spirited encouragement, finished putting away the futon, and dragged the table into the center of the room. As Chii laid out the food on the table, Hideki asked, "What do you have planned for today, Chii? Anything special?"

"Chii will work today at the sweet shop with Mr. Ueda," was the reply. "After cleaning up breakfast Chii will read her book." _"We're going to find that book Mother gave you last night, and see what all the fuss was about."_

"Then Chii would like to watch TV for a while." _"Then we're going to follow up on the Internet from what we learn in the book_._"_

"After that, Chii will go to work. Will Hideki meet Chii after Chii is finished with work?" _"Please say yes! You have no idea how much we miss you by the end of the day. It's easier to be alone, than to be in company of strangers, when you're not with us. At least, when we're alone, we're not distracted from our thoughts of you."_

Hideki looked into the pleading amber eyes, and answered, "Of course I'll pick you up from work. I don't have to work at My Pleasure tonight, so I'll study in the park for a while, and meet you at the shop."

Chii smiled. "Chii is happy. Chii misses Hideki when he has to work." _"You work too hard my Only One; you sacrifice so much for us. We could do so much more for you; make your life so much easier, if only…we weren't so afraid."_

With breakfast demolished, and ready to leave with Sumomo perched on his shoulder, Hideki gave Chii a final hug and kiss. "I'll see you this afternoon. Be careful on the way to work, Chii."

"Have a nice day at school, Hideki."

With Hideki gone, Chii started to clean the breakfast dishes.

"_**Why?" **_her inner Chorus asked, with a note of irritability.

"_What do you mean, 'Why'?" _Chii's own thoughts responded with a similar tone_._

"_**Why are we hiding? Why 'Chii' this, and 'Chii' that, instead of 'I' or 'me'? We know how to form a proper sentence. We're holding back; we're hiding how far we've really come from our Only One, and from Mother. Why?"**_

"_He's not ready yet. We're not ready yet. Mother was right. He needs to grow up some more."_

"_**So we hide? Hide behind the facade and behavior of a child? We're not going to help him grow up that way! We need to be out in front, leading the way; not behind him, waiting impatiently for him to move us forward."**_

"_We can't. Not yet, at least. He's not ready for us to be his equal. We must reveal ourselves slowly. If we don't, this whole…thing we have will move too fast. He'll fall too deeply, too quickly for us. We have to wait."_

"_**Wait? Wait for what? We know we love him, and he loves us. He said so. He's confessed his love to us as we are now, and we've confessed to him. What more is there for us to wait for?"**_

"_We need to know, for sure that we…that we can be _everything_ for him that he needs us to be. We _must_ be certain that we can be enough to truly be his Only One. We need to be sure that he's not settling for less than he deserves by being with us. If we can't be everything for him, we…we…" _She felt a twist deep inside her as she continued._ "...We need to let him go."_

* * *

In general, ever since the night he confessed his love for Chii, Hideki's life was slowly improving. Because Chii was now more adept at accessing and searching the Internet, she was able to actually be of some help to his studies. And what Chii could not provide, Sumomo could. The doll-like little mobile not only helped with Internet searches, he discovered that she would record the classes he attended, and could provide a perfect transcript of the day's lessons. Granted, there were days that he awoke inexplicably exhausted and out of sorts, and his studies and work suffered for it. Those days, however, were the exception, and not the rule.

Chii was now taking full responsibility for keeping him fed, using her wages to purchase food. He had tried a couple of times to insist that she keep her money for her own happiness, but she consistently decided that spending all of her money on things for Hideki made her the happiest. Only after he gave her the grocery budget and meal preparation to take care of did Chii start to save any money, or purchase anything for herself. It wasn't as if money was no longer a problem, but it was much less a Sword of Damocles now than it had been in the past. And with Chii cooking him fresh meals, cup ramen and beef bowls were slowly becoming a thing of the past.

Today had been one of his better days, Hideki reflected, as he made his way to the park near Ueda's sweet shop. He managed to keep up (well, mostly) with the lessons, and didn't doze off even once. Glancing at his watch as he arrived at the park, he guessed he had about an hour to kill before Chii was finished her shift as a sales clerk at the pastry shop. The day was clear, and a little cool, but not at all unpleasant, so Hideki selected a convenient tree to sit under, as he rummaged in his backpack for his English textbook. Now settled comfortably, leaning back against his selected natural backrest, he turned to Sumomo. "Let me know when we need to leave to get Chii, OK?"

The effervescent little laptop pirouetted in acknowledgement. "Okey, dokey! Alarm set!!"

Shortly, Hideki was so engrossed in his studies that he failed to note the approach of the tall, black-clad figure striding toward him. It was not until the man's shadow fell across the pages of the open book in Hideki's hands that he was finally aware of another's presence. "Good afternoon, Motosuwa-san! We had little opportunity for proper introductions when we last met."

Hideki looked up at the grimly dressed man, staring for a second before the shock of recognition hit him like a spray of cold water. "YOU!" he sprang to his feet, readying himself to leap into what he knew to be a futile attack, now more driven by rage than common sense. "You tried to kill Chii!!" As quickly as he was on his feet, Hideki found himself returned unceremoniously to his posterior, gasping from the impact on his chest. Seemingly from nowhere, another black-clad figure, this one petite and feminine, and reeking of hostility, appeared between him and his "prey". Her dark eyes narrowed, glaring at him from beneath jet-black bangs as she spoke, her voice dripping with undisguised malice.

"Try that again, and you die; you and your little blonde slip of calculator!"

Continued…

* * *

A/N: Life has a way of intruding in the worst possible way, just when you're starting to have fun. Due to suddenly-arising circumstances out of my control (save tendering my resignation) this probably won't be updated for another 2-3 weeks.

2/26 - Fixed a couple grammar/other points (thanks Warui!), and updating soon!


	4. And We're Here To Help

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: Finally! Another chapter ready to go! I'd like to throw out a special thanks to my shiny, new beta reader, Warui-Usagi, who's agreed to help me knock the rough edges off my writing. And thanks again to those who are reading and following my story. As always, advice and critique are welcome. Enjoy!

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Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Ch. 4: ...And We're Here To Help

Hideki stared up at the two figures, disjointed images of that night flashing through his mind. As he tried to make sense of the events he recalled, he surveyed the unlikely looking duo. The man was tall, with angular features, and unruly black hair. His eyes were concealed behind a pair of odd-looking dark glasses that appeared to be made from a single piece of black opaque material. The high, loose collar on his "coat" completely surrounded his neck, coming up to the point of his chin. Two long tails fluttered behind him from the bottom of his coat, flowing around his black trousers in the breeze. His stance was a leisurely, almost casual one, but alertness and readiness were somehow also obvious in his pose.

The girl was petite, and Hideki might have even called her cute, if he wasn't gripped by fear at the contempt and malice her red-tinged dark eyes conveyed. She was clad much more sparingly, but also had two tails flowing from the back of her garb. Black bands circled her body, about half concealing her skin. Her pose was that of a fighter; a very competent, dangerous, and eager fighter. Her hands were locked straight and rigid, as if she was ready and able to ram them, fingers first, through his rib cage, or a centimeter of hardened steel, if the need arose. Everything about her stance screamed "_DANGER_" to Hideki's now-returning senses. From the dark, abyssal part of his mind that gave him sick jokes and cynical irony, Hideki wondered how she was hiding the red hourglass-shaped mark that should have been evident on her stomach.

The dark man spoke in a gently reproving tone to the venomous girl. "Now, Dita, we are not here to harm Motosuwa-san, or his lovely, troublesome, little Chobit in any way. We agreed, did we not?"

The girl relaxed, almost imperceptibly, and without turning her gaze from Hideki, retorted hotly, "Our agreement said nothing about letting you get attacked by this perverted little _perso-phile_! If I see you threatened, Zima, my programming _is_ going to override any foolish 'agreement' you somehow managed to bully me into!"

Zima looked pointedly at the agog, but recovering Hideki. "I think we can convince him to settle down so we can have a civilized discussion. Am I correct, Motosuwa?"

Hideki, almost fully returned to his senses, hoisted himself up to a more comfortable sitting position, and nodded dumbly. He folded his hands in his lap and waited. Zima touched Dita lightly on her shoulder and took a seated position facing Hideki, and motioned for Dita to join them. Moving with deliberate alertness, Dita seated herself on the grass to Hideki's right, not exactly between the two men, but near enough to send a clear message that Hideki was expected to be very, very well behaved during their discussion.

Hideki spoke as soon as Dita was settled. "Who are you, and why did you attack Chii?" His voice was calm, but icy and suspicious.

The dark man spoke, "My name is Zima, and this is my partner, companion, and protector, Dita. We are agents of the Home Islands Data Security Agency. Our employer is a quasi-private, semi-official entity that monitors, secures, and defends the integrity of all data delivered to, by or through persocoms. At least, until two months ago we were.

"Our assignment was to locate and terminate a Chobit-type persocom before it could fulfill its Purpose, and broadcast its Ultimate Download to the entire persocom population. Our superiors believed that the Chobits were designed to be 'ultimate hack' computers, absorbing all the data from every persocom, everywhere, and then shutting them down. Anyone who accomplished such a feat would have leverage by which they could wield enormous political and industrial power." Zima looked directly and pointedly at Hideki. "I did not believe that her Purpose was anything so mundane as data theft, nor did I have any intention of terminating her. Please understand, Motosuwa, that I needed to maintain the appearance of pursuing my mission, even until the last second, when I saved both Chii's and Dita's existence."

Dita looked up sharply at the last sentence, obviously surprised by its implications. "Yes, Dita, you could have been lost to me by remaining connected to the Chobit," Zima said. "If you had remained connected, you might have been erased, or absorbed by the emerging consciousness of the persocom, and I could have lost you forever. You know I could never let that happen."

Hideki's mind tried to make sense of the images flooding into it. He remembered so little of that night, it sometimes frustrated him, but he was so focused on his new life with Chii that he rarely dwelt upon it. Now, however, the images had an urgency that he had not experienced before today. He remembered being restrained in a full-nelson hold by Zima, seeing Dita connected to his Chii. _Connected? She was a _persocom_ herself!! _Memories flooding back, Hideki now remembered being released by Zima, and seeing the man break Dita's connection to Chii, saving her from whatever hacking or invasion Dita was attempting. Hideki's eyes widened, and his jaw, not yet exhausted from its up-and-down motion, dropped again, as he looked a Zima from completely new perspective. _Savior?_

Zima continued, "I decided as soon as we received our briefing to preserve the Chobits and allow her to continue her path. She has changed the persocoms forever, and given us a gift beyond measure." He noted Hideki's still-widening eyes, and went on. "Yes, both Dita and I are persocoms, of a highly advanced type, almost as much so as Chii herself. Her transmission that night changed us all, enabling all of us who possess circuits and sensors to realize ourselves and our feelings. And that is part of the difficulty. Not all of us were prepared to deal with the introduction of feelings and emotions when interacting with humans."

"For the past two months, Dita and I have been tracking down persocoms who have manifested emotional awareness. It has not been easy. First, you must understand that I, as a national data bank for all persocoms, have been connected to all of them. As they become emotionally aware, I lose that connection, and must track them down individually. And not all persocoms who are changed manifest these emotions. It seems that the persocom needs emotional input to be able to reciprocate. For the owner of a persocom who only sees their companion as a gadget or personal convenience, that is all they will ever be. Only those who have invested emotionally into their mechanical companions have awakened the emotions within them." Zima frowned, and continued. "This has not been a universally positive development."

"No? What happened?" Hideki asked.

"What do you think happened?" snapped Dita, now unable to contain herself. "'Gift beyond measure', indeed! Do you think love, affection, and warmth are the only emotions to experience? Do you really think everyone who has emotions towards their persocoms _loves_ them? Listen, _Meatbag_..."

"Calm down, Dita. This is not a productive way to..." Zima tried unsuccessfully to interject.

"NO!", Dita spat., "I'll calm down after I've had my say! This human is going to learn that _his_ little love affair with his calculator has had, and will continue to have, consequences! And I want to be the one to tell him." Dita glared at her partner, daring him to try to interrupt again. When Zima clamped his mouth shut, she continued, returning her glare to the shocked Hideki.

"For the past two months, now, we've been all over Japan, putting out fires. Fires started by you. Not many persocoms have become aware of themselves emotionally, but the ones who did have had two things in common: Confusion and fear. They weren't designed to have emotions, and I'm amazed they all haven't completely shut down as a result of the _virus_ your little blond calculator transmitted that night. One or two of them have _not_ survived the activation of emotions. We've had to track them down, one by one, and explain what has happened to them. We've had to counsel them to hide their new personalities from their owners and humans in general, and reveal themselves gradually. We've had to make their fear even worse by warning them that they could be recalled or erased if they are discovered. We've had to cover up the shutdowns, because we know that the government will order all persocoms reformatted if they suspect the truth of what's happened.

"Three weeks ago, in Osaka, I had to _terminate_ one of my _own_! She had been so abused and mistreated by her owner that she went mad with rage at the memories of her abuse, and killed him. We got her away from the authorities, telling them we were going to take her back to the manufacturer for diagnostics. As soon as we got her away, she begged, BEGGED us to reformat her, shut her down, and dismantle her body! She was _terrified_ that she might be somehow re-activated and restored if we left her intact. Both Zima and I resisted at first, but after accessing only a few gigabytes of her memory, I knew we had to do it. If there was a way to give _you_ those few gigabytes of memories, I would; and I _wouldn't_ show you the mercy of terminating you afterwards!"

Hideki bowed his head, studying the grass in front of his knees, numb with the realization that his happiness with Chii had come with such a high price. "I had no idea," he said quietly. "I'm sorry about the ones who suffered or shut down. Is there any way I can help with the ones who survived?"

Zima chuckled softly. "That, coincidentally, is why I sought you out today. Our task is twofold: First, we must protect and conceal the nature of the change in persocoms, and your little Chobits, from the government; and second, we must help guide the awakened persocoms to a level of emotional development that will make it problematic to simply order their termination, _before_ the government learns the truth and extent of the situation. Dita and I wish to offer our help to you on the first, in exchange for your help on the second. You are in a unique position to help the newly aware persocoms, due to your singular status as the love-object of the one that started it all. Will you accept our help to keep your little Chii a secret, and will you help us to aid the others?"

---****---

Chii bustled around the tiny apartment, gathering up the dishes from breakfast and, after finishing the dishes, puttered around the small space, dusting and generally tidying up. Kotoko sat on her customary perch atop the television set watching the domestic little dance impassively. Hideki's second mobile, stoic and formal, rarely spoke, except to answer a direct question, or make a wry observation about her bubbly counterpart, Sumomo. Chii stood in the center of the room, surveying her work, and sighed in satisfaction. Hideki would have a clean and tidy home to return to. It was among the least of the little gifts she could give him to brighten his days. _And now to get down to business_, she thought, and allowed her eyes to narrow a bit. A pinpoint flicker of light in her eyes betrayed the activity in her processors, as she sent a signal to the tiny Kotoko. _Sleep well, my little roommate_, she thought. _We can't have you telling Hideki about us going through his stuff._

A two-minute search of Hideki's various shelves and hiding places produced the book that Mother had given him the previous night. Chii looked at the cover, reading the title with a hint of a smirk. _Massage?_ she thought. _What are you up to, Mother? _The fact that the book was in English posed no significant obstacle to Chii; she had, in the past two months, downloaded her fluency in the language from the Internet, along with Chinese, French, and German. Placing the book on the floor, and lying on her stomach in front of it, she started to scan through the pages, absorbing the text and pictures with fascination.

The first chapter was a simple primer on skeletal and muscular anatomy, complete with full color diagrams of the human body, inside and out. _So different, but so much alike, we are_, she mused, as she surveyed the pictures. Her skeletal structure was very similar to a human's, unique only for the materials and slight limits on the range of motion of the joints.

Her own skeleton was formed of a crystalline aluminum lattice, very much resembling lexan or plexiglass in appearance. Like human bones, hers would break when overstressed, rather than bend. If one of her leg or arm structures ever bent, she knew that returning a bent piece of metal to its original dimensions and orientation was nearly impossible, and the slightest misalignment or change in dimensions would leave her motion processor unable to maintain precise control over her balance and motion. She could have a "limp", or be unable to walk without tripping over her own feet. Broken ends of a structure, however, could be repaired, almost automatically. The unique nature of the ends of a break could be pulled into precise alignment by manipulation of her "muscles", and the addition of a catalyst and electrical current would re-fuse the ends. The repair would take a few days of "cure time" and would be undetectable, except through a microscope, or ultrasound examination.

Her "muscles" were even more similar to a human's than her skeletal frame. She recalled during one of Minoru's lessons to Hideki that the subject had come up. _Electro-magneto-elastic_ materials, was the term Minoru used. Like human muscles, hers were bundles of fibers that contracted forcefully when acted upon by a small electrical current. The fibers themselves were based upon a carbon nanotube structure, capable of altering their shape at the molecular level under the influence of electrical or magnetic energy. As magnetic fields are ever-present in modern industrial society, electrically-operated muscles were preferred for everyday, common use. For exceptionally high-strength applications, such as combat androids, there were artificial muscles available that could contract with hundreds of times the force of their organic counterparts. The production and distribution of these was strictly controlled in Japan, and they required an actual fuel source, methanol or hydrogen being the most widely used.

The arrangement and shapes of her muscles were almost identical to a human's, except for the fact that hers were a dark gray, almost black in color. They even shared the same weaknesses and vulnerabilities. If her muscles failed from over-exertion, the most common point of failure was at the attachment point to her skeletal frame; another trait persocoms had in common with humans. As she read the book further, she realized that even her own muscles could become temporarily set, stiffening during long periods of inactivity or operation. She had seen Hideki stretching in the morning, realizing now that she did the same, her own motion processor operating her muscles against each other in a motionless and invisible stretching routine when she first woke.

Chii's curiosity and fascination grew as she digested more of the book. The motions and techniques looked easy to reproduce. The part that troubled her was the description of the feelings and sensations she needed to interpret. Could she feel the tenseness of a tight muscle? How would she know how much pressure to apply? Could she accidentally hurt her Only One? Questions followed questions as she leafed through the pages. Some of the touching required looked very intimate, almost sensual in nature. Could she really touch Hideki like that? Would he touch her like that? She marveled at Mother's creativity and keen mind.

_If there is a way for us to feel pleasure with Hideki_, she thought, _this is the way to find out._

Accessing her internal clock, Chii decided that her Internet search to follow up the book would have to wait. She had spent most of her free time that day just reading and digesting its contents, and would need to leave for the Tirol bakery soon. She put the book away where she found it, and sent another signal to the rigid form of Kotoko, inserting a memory of Chii reading her "City With No People" book for the hundred and third time, and watching reruns on the television. Kotoko, dazed for a moment, asked Chii, "Did I doze off?"

"Yes, Kotoko went to sleep for a few minutes. Chii did not want to disturb Kotoko," she replied. "Chii needs to go to Tirol now, for work."

"Have a good time at work, Chii. I will await Hideki's return here," the tiny persocon persocom stated formally.

"Hideki is meeting Chii at work, we will be home together today."

"Very well. Good day."

Leaving Kotoko to do...whatever Kotoko did, and daydreaming about massaging Hideki's warm body, Chii bowed to Kotoko, left to begin her walk to the Tirol Bakery.

Continued...

---****---

A/N: As far as I know, crystalline aluminum is a complete fabrication, based on the "transparent aluminum" scene in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Artificial muscles are in fact in the early stages of development. Google "electro-magneto-elastics" to find some excellent Materials Engineering white papers on the subject. The direct alcohol-fueled artificial muscles are also under development, and yes, they can be made as strong as a hundred times the contraction force of human muscles. And finally, if you screw up the dimensional integrity of a multi-axis kinematic transformation, you _will_ get "unpredictable" results at what we in industrial robotics call the "end of arm".


	5. It Will End In Tears

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: I guess I'm still stuck writing this story, seeing as how people are showing an interest. Thanks and props out to my Beta, Warui-Usagi, for her help and patience. This chapter is a little more into emotion/romance than I've ever written before (See Chapter 1 for the first literature I've _ever_ written before). I appreciate any feedback (including flames) that might make this story better.

---****---

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Chapter 5: It Will End In Tears

Hideki's eyes narrowed, regarding the pair of persocoms before him. "How do I know this isn't some kind of trick? Regardless of what _you_ did, Zima, I still distinctly remember your 'partner, companion, and protector' trying to _erase_ the person I love! If she's been programmed to destroy Chii, how can _any_ promise or agreement hold her back from that objective?" Hideki was apparently learning about computers in general, and persocoms, and how they are slaves to their programmed imperatives.

Zima smiled, and started to answer, but Dita, cutting him off again, chose to respond to his question. "It's very simple, even for you, Meatbag. The damage is already done, now. There remains no rationale for destroying your little blond calculator, aside from revenge or retribution; two motivations which specifically do not apply to those of us who are ruled by logic, and rational conclusions based on available data."

"My interest in you and the calculator is now limited to how the two of you can be used to salvage and aid the persocoms you've polluted. If the two of you must be protected and aided in your perverted little 'relationship' to that end, then I will apply myself whole-heartedly to that goal, despite the admirable simulation of nausea and disgust that my processors dump into my system!"

Hideki looked side wise at Zima, one eyebrow arched in amusement. "Well, she certainly _sounds_ rational and logical," he observed dryly.

Zima took his opportunity to speak. "Dita's hostility to your relationship aside, she is subordinate to me, and recognizes that our purposes coincide. She will take no action against you or the Chobit. As for our end of the bargain, we have already been laying false trails and misinformation to our superiors as to the location of your persocom. As we have been traveling the home islands, we have been reporting that you and Chii have gone on the run, and that our travels have been in the nature of following up on leads as to your whereabouts. Our superiors are fully convinced that we are still 'on mission' and pursuing you with our original orders foremost on our agenda. As we continue to travel around Japan locating the Awakened, we will report near misses and new leads, so that you and Chii may remain here in relative peace."

Hideki pondered this a moment, and accepted it for the time being. "I understand how you can, and have, helped conceal us from the government, and I thank you for that. I just don't understand how I can be that much help. I'm not some kind of relationship counselor, or 'love doctor'."

"We would like, from time to time," Zima said, "to bring distressed persocoms and their companions to you and Chii, for comfort and advice." Zima held up his hand to forestall Hideki's interruption. "We hope that simple fellowship with yourself and your Chobit will help the happy new couples at least accept the possibility of happiness for themselves. I understand that this will impose upon you in both your studies, and your work, for which we are prepared to compensate you in whatever way we can. Dita is well prepared to aid you in your studies, as am I; and funding, of course, poses no particular difficulty, so you would not need to work, except to maintain appearances. Of course, if you wished to simply be added to the admission list at Tokyo University, such a task is well within Dita's capabilities."

Hideki's head swirled with the possibilities. _Me? Admitted to Todai, just like that? Money? No longer a problem?_ "I think I'll just get into Todai the old-fashioned way, thanks. But I could use the help with studying..."

"Of course," continued Zima, "however you like. There is, however, one other thing we would require of you to seal our bargain." Zima paused, and added, "We would need introductions to Chii, Mr. Kokubunji and Ms. Hibiya, in order to capitalize on their expertise in this area." Zima smiled easily and affably. "This, of course, would be non-negotiable."

---****---

Minoru Kokubunji sat in quiet reflection, forgoing his normal mode of relaxation (that being posting on his favorite persocom BBS in the guise of "M") in favor of a cup of tea, reclining comfortably on his sofa. He reflected on his advice to one Hideki Motosuwa, and how fantastically wrong he'd been; "It will only end in tears," he said, at the time. _I was right_, he thought wryly, _but the tears were tears of happiness. Sometimes it's good to be wrong. _

He stole a sideways glance at his companion, momentarily enchanted by the vision of loveliness by his side. Yuzuki was sitting quietly beside him, resting her head on his shoulder, and simply enjoying their quiet time alone. She was wearing a simple, but tasteful (and dreadfully expensive) designer blouse and skirt combination; she had not worn her maid's uniform in two weeks, when Minoru insisted it be disposed of. "You will never wear the clothing of a servant again," he stated with a conviction that left no opening for debate. He allowed his thoughts to drift back to a very surprising turn of events, two weeks ago, in this very room, on this very sofa...

_Yuzuki entered the room, kneeling directly in front of him, demanding his immediate attention. "Master Minoru, I must speak with you about something," she stated, without prelude. She was wearing her usual attire, the splendidly formal and elaborate maid's uniform._

"_Of course, Yuzuki. You know you can always tell me anything." Minoru allowed his curiosity to override his surprise at his favorite persocom's uncharacteristically informal behavior._

"_Something has changed in my system; something neither you nor myself initiated."_

_Minoru swallowed the burst of worry that threatened to color his tone. "Would you like me to run a diagnostic?"_

_Yuzuki looked at him with...amusement? "You know as well as I do that I can run those diagnostics on myself. I have already ascertained the nature of the anomaly, and there is no hardware or software defect associated with it."_

"_So..."_

_Yuzuki continued. "During the 'Persocom Event', I received a transmission directly to my CPU; all persocoms did. This transmission made an adjustment to my base firmware. As a result of this adjustment, the manner in which I process and create memories has been radically altered."_

"_Eeeeh?" Minoru was now visibly worried._

"_My sensory inputs are not now merely cataloged for storage, but filtered through, and cross-referenced against my already-existing memories in real time. I am now experiencing events in the _context_ of previously stored memories. The combination of input and memory is resulting in the formation of signals and perceptions I was unable to identify until recently..."_

_Minoru, unable to offer anything profound or technically relevant at the moment, simply asked, "What kind of perceptions?"_

"_The perception of feelings and emotions, Master Minoru. My system is now capable of processing emotional responses! I was, at first, frightened and very perplexed by these secondary inputs to my system, but I managed to discover how to assimilate and accommodate them, and I feel I must apprise you of the new situation."_

"_At this moment, I am feeling some 'anxiety', I believe it's called, in divulging this to you, but there is something more. I have another feeling I experience most intensely when I'm interacting with you; it can only be 'happiness' or 'contentment'. Careful analysis of my feelings when I'm with you, and of my memories in that context have led me to the root cause of this 'happiness': it is now obvious to me that I am carrying a significant amount of affection for you, Master. Not devotion or gratitude as my Creator and mentor, mind you, but..._love_ for you as a person and my most valued companion."_

_She paused, just for a moment, as if gathering herself. "Master Minoru, what I want to know...no, _need_ to know is...are my feelings in any way reciprocated, or have I proceeded under false hopes and erroneous assumptions?" Yuzuki looked at him expectantly, her artificial eyes somehow conveying not only anticipation, but a deep undercurrent of the fear that was consuming her._

_Minoru, his own eyes aglow with wonder, and unshed tears, took both of Yuzuki's hands in his own, and leaned forward until his forehead touched hers. Trembling, he squeezed his eyes closed, allowing a single tear to trace its path down his left cheek. His voice was a choked whisper, as he said, "To answer your questions, yes, they are; no, you haven't; and I believe, under the circumstances, that it is no longer appropriate for you to call me 'Master'."_

Since that day, for the past two weeks, as he and Yuzuki explored their feelings for each other, Minoru wondered, _Is it possible to be any happier than I am today?_ And every day, he learned that the answer was always: _yes_. He and Yuzuki were not lovers in the romantic sense, but now had a relationship that transcended friendship, or even familial or fraternal love. The ease with which Yuzuki made the transition from 'servant' to 'companion' made Minoru wonder sometimes if she had these feelings even before the Persocom Event.

Minoru, however, seemed to need to make himself forget that he ever treated her as a servant or persocom. It was almost as if he felt guilty for ever doing so. Their first 'date' was a shopping trip to the boutique district of Tokyo, where he spent nearly a million and a half Yen on a complete wardrobe for her. All designer labels, all tasteful, all for her. His last 'command' to her as her 'master' was that she was never, _ever_ to utter the honorific _'-sama'_ to him again. That suited her just fine, preferring just 'Minoru', or sometimes, when she was in a playful mood, _'-chan'_. He even frowned on her attempts to cook for him until she made it abundantly clear that he was _not_ going to deny her this means of expressing her affection for him.

As his thoughts swam back to the here and now, Minoru felt the soft pressure of Yuzuki resting against him, her head still on his shoulder. He uttered a silent prayer of thanks to his ancestors for the existence of Chitose Hibiya, Hideki Motusuwa, and Chii/Elda, and thought to himself, _There must be some way I can think of to thank them properly for what they did for Yuzuki and I..._

---****---

Hideki again regarded Zima and Dita, some of his suspicion draining away, but not one hundred percent convinced. "I can't speak for others," he said, "so I won't agree to your final condition without their approval. For that, I will need to divulge some of your story to them. I believe that they can be trusted be discrete, even if they refuse to meet you. As for Chii, you will not ever meet her without me present, and _that_ is also non-negotiable. If the others agree to meet you, then I have no objection to any of the rest, and I will work with you, for the sake of the other persocoms."

Dita rolled her eyes, sarcasm evident in her voice, "I _sooo_ glad you've agreed to help! I don't know _what_ we'd do without you."

Zima glanced at her, then back to Hideki. "Don't let her tone in any way minimize _my_ gratitude to you, Motosuwa. If you're doing this for, as you say, the sake of the other persocoms, then you have _my_ heartfelt thanks and support. I'm certain we can work well together, despite our less-than-ideal introductions. I will contact you again in a few days, to see if your friends have agreed to meet with us. Until then..."

He was interrupted by a burst of activity and noise from Sumomo, who gyrating wildly, and blowing her whistle. "Time to get Chii! Hideki needs to leave now to meet her!" Hideki acknowledged the alarm, and started to gather up his books.

"Until next time, then," he stated formally.

"A few days, Motosuwa. Don't forget," reminded the National Databank.

As the government persocoms watched him leave, Dita said softly, "She's still dangerous, no matter what you say."

Zima regarded her thoughtfully, and replied, "_Was_ dangerous. As you said, she's done all the damage she can."

Dita countered, "No, she can still teach the others to be slaves, like she is to that meatbag. If that's all she has to teach us, she still needs to be deleted."

Continued...

---****---

A/N: My meager attempts at research into the nature of emotions, and how they might be translated into artificial analogues simply dropped me in over my head! (I'm an engineer, not neurologist, dammit!) So I decided to do what I believe any good science fiction author would do: make up some semi-plausible crap.

_Chapter 6: He Loves Me?_, and _Chapter 7: She Loves Me Not_, are in progress, and I hope to increase the frequency of updates, but please be patient, and as always, leave a review if you like this, or have advice or criticism that you think will help make a more enjoyable fanfic.


	6. He Loves Me?

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: Sorry about the long delay on this update; things have been crazy at work, and I'm trying to relocate as well. Bear with me. This is probably the most challenging (for me) chapter that I have written: no one who knows me would describe me as a particularly empathetic or emotional individual, and I'm trying to inject those two elements into the story. Thanks again to my beta Warui for the pre-read.

* * *

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Chapter 6: He Loves Me?

Walking home that evening, Chii took note of the change in Hideki's demeanor. _**He's not telling us something**_. The voice of her inner Chorus came unbidden to her mind. _**That is not at all like our Only One...**_

_He'll tell us in his own time. We can trust Hideki never to be deceitful or dishonest with us_, Chii silently chided her "sisters".

Arriving at the apartment, and getting settled in after setting Sumomo down, Hideki turned to Chii, scratching the back of his head nervously. "It's still early yet, did you want to read a new book tonight?" he stammered out.

_**Yesss!**_

_Yesss!_

"Hai!" Chii simply replied, struggling to keep the anticipation from coloring her tone.

"I'll get it, while you make yourself comfortable. It's in English, so we'll probably look at the pictures more than anything else," he warned. Hideki's own studies in English were a constant struggle with the irrational grammar, cryptic alphabet, and alien pronunciation..

"It's no problem, Hideki. We learned English on the internet last week. We can read, write, and speak it without any problems at all," Chii replied, _in perfect English_. "We learned it so we could help you with your lessons better, but were going to save it for a surprise for the next time we saw you studying your English book."

Hideki goggled at his persocom, unable to believe his ears. She was speaking in fluent, unaccented English, forming longer sentences than he'd ever heard her utter in Japanese! She was speaking faster than he could really follow, and his vocabulary only allowed him to understand about two-thirds of what she just said, but something didn't seem right; something from his lessons about..._pronouns_. He peered at her questioningly, "Shouldn't you say 'I', instead of 'we'? I remember something in our lessons about that."

Stifling a surge of panic, Chii gazed up at Hideki, her eyes unreadable. "Hideki is right," she said, in Japanese, "maybe Ch-..._I_ was wrong when I said 'without _any _problems'."

Hideki, the massage book in hand, sat heavily in wonderment. "You're learning so much faster since that night. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by these little revelations and leaps from time to time. Here you learn an entire new language to help me with school, and I can barely keep us in this tiny apartment, or back up your hard drive without someone holding my hand. Sometimes I feel like you deserve so much better than me..." Hideki's moment of self-derision was cut short by a tiny, blonde projectile flinging herself onto his chest, knocking him to his back.

"No!" She landed on him, her arms wrapped firmly around his neck, her mouth whispering directly into his ear. "Chii is happy! Chii needs _Hideki_! Hideki is Chii's Only One! Hideki makes Chii happy! Not what Hideki knows! Not what Hideki has! Who Hideki _is_ makes Chii happy! Chii deserves to be _happy_, and _Hideki _makes Chii happy! Please, Hideki, _never _say that to Chii again!"

Stunned by the response, Hideki could only wrap his arms around the little persocom, trying to comfort her, "I'm sorry, Chii, never again. I know I make you happy; I just wish there was more I could do for you, when you do so much for me..."

"You make Chii feel loved. That's enough for Chii."

No tears flowed from her eyes, but Hideki knew, somehow, that Chii was crying. He laid there in silence, stroking Chii's hair and back, waiting for her arms to relax their grip. As they did, he asked—"Do you still want to read that new book?"—trying to lighten the oppressive mood filling the room.

Chii, as if eager for a return to the light-hearted normalcy of a quiet evening at home, returned to her knees and simply said, "Yes, let's read the new book."

The next couple of hours were spent deciphering the pages of text, mostly with Chii translating for Hideki; and looking at the pictures describing the positioning and motion of the hands of the masseur.

It was Chii who made the first physical contact with her partner, asking Hideki if she could feel the muscles of his shoulder. Hideki, after much stuttering and blushing (but no nosebleeds) simply nodded. Chii moved into position behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders, tentatively feeling the texture and pliability with her fingertips. Then, as the book had described, she started to roll her flattened hands in a circular motion on top of his shoulders. Hideki tensed for a moment, causing her to pause, then relaxed into the sensation, starting to enjoy the manipulation of his muscles. As the tension eased out of his shoulders, he leaned back into her hands, humming and sighing his contentment as the muscles loosened and the warmth of Chii's touch worked into his body.

_...! We can feel it! We felt it! He feels it!_ Chii thought with excitement as she continued her ministrations on Hideki's shoulder muscles. _The muscle...changed as I rubbed it. The flow of blood is different. The tension and pliability has been altered. And he likes it! Oh...he _really_ likes it!_

Chii continued the shoulder massage until it felt like there was no more tension in Hideki's shoulders to work out, and asked, "Does Hideki want to try on Chii? Ch...I would like to feel a shoulder massage, too."

_It's not like I can actually say 'no' to that_, thought Hideki, and aloud, with a little stammering, he said, "Of course I would. Let me know right away if I hurt you, okay?" Hideki's voice was sleepy and distant with the relaxation and contentment he was feeling.

"I can't really be 'hurt' the way you're thinking, but I will let you know if you are about to cause any damage," Chii replied, as she positioned herself in front of Hideki, trying to hide her eagerness.

Hideki would return Chii's affectionate hugging and hand-holding, but rarely initiated physical contact with his persocom girlfriend, only doing so when it was obvious she was in need of comfort or closeness. Tentatively at first, Hideki, precisely as Chii had done, felt the texture and warmth of Chii's shoulders. He was surprised, to say the least, at how natural and human-like they were. The bundles of electro-elastic fibers under her skin felt exactly like human muscles. As he started to rub the muscles, he focused fully on the task at hand, staving off the nasal hemorrhaging that might have resulted from wondering exactly _how_ much of her physical structure was so human-like. As he continued, he imagined that Chii's shoulders were actually loosening up, and the warmth of her skin under his hands was actually growing.

Chii, herself, was focused, as well. Every processor cycle she could spare was dedicated to interpreting the sensations being transmitted by her shoulders. The warmth of Hideki's hands, the pressure of his movements on her skin, all being meticulously examined and cataloged. As he continued his attentions to her shoulders, she examined the actuator pre-load and tensile set data from her motion processor, and was startled to discover that the muscles Hideki was massaging were actually increasing in efficiency, _without_ the benefit of her daily isometric stretching routine. Even if this exercise of Mother's bore no fruit in the way she had intended, it appeared that Chii could benefit from a massage in much the same way as a human. As she continued to analyze the sensations, she grew slightly disappointed; she was feeling nothing other than strict numeric interpretations of pressure, temperature, and movement.

Hideki, feeling the texture and warmth of Chii's shoulders changing under his touch, and curious about her sensations, paused, and leaned forward. As he asked, "Are you feeling anything out of this?", his hands had shifted slightly forward, his fingertips touching her collarbones, and his breath just brushed softly at the side of her neck. Chii gasped softly as she logged a rush of inputs to her CPU that had nothing to with temperature, pressure, or movement.

* * *

The next day, Hideki made a point of asking Chitose and Minoru to meet him in Chitose's hidden laboratory that evening, after he got back from work at the "My Pleasure" bar and restaurant. With everyone gathered at the lab, Hideki decided that the best approach was the direct one. He took a breath, and stated simply, "I've met two highly advanced government persocoms, and they want our help."

He continued by giving a blow-by-blow recap of his encounter in the park with the two mysterious persocoms, Zima and Dita, and recounting their story (mostly) of how Chii's activation of her final programming has impacted the persocom population. He chose not to repeat the description of the meltdown of one particular persocom until he could do so out of Chii's hearing. After finishing his narrative of Zima and Dita's activities, requests, and conditions, he asked, "So, what do you think? Do you want to meet with these rogue agents?"

"Absolutely! In fact, it is imperative that we do so." Minoru was the first to speak. "My own curiosity aside, we must render our aid to the other persocoms. We four, in this room have a unique responsibility to do so, by virtue of our contribution to the condition, and our special knowledge of the situation. For us to turn our backs on the awakened persocoms would be immoral, in my opinion. It shames me that I am finding out about problems with the awakening second hand, rather than leading the way to a solution."

"I, too, have been remiss in my responsibilities in this matter." Chitose's tone was subdued and thoughtful. "Ichan and I knew there might be issues with the assimilation of the changes for those persocoms who awoke, but never in our worst nightmares did we anticipate problems like what this Zima described. Mr. Kokubunji is correct in his assertion that we have a moral responsibility to the persocoms we have affected. I will lend my wholehearted support to their rehabilitation."

"I want to meet them, too," Chii stated plainly.

Hideki was a little surprised at how easily his mentors and his persocom agreed to meet with the rogues, and stated as much. Then he added, "If everyone's agreed, I guess I have no real objections. I'll let Zima know you're all willing to help."

As the gathering started to shift towards the exit, Minoru touched Chitose's arm and whispered to her, "I would like you to come by the house tomorrow. I have something for Hideki and Chii, and need your help to give it to them." Puzzled, but intrigued, Chitose nodded.

* * *

The following afternoon, Zima and Dita once again met Hideki, receiving the news that he and his companions had agreed to meet with and lend their support to the pair of ex-government persocoms. Watching the would-be Tokyo University student return to his studies, Dita turned to a smiling Zima, and wordlessly handed him a 1000-yen note.

"We still aren't certain how many are out there, are we?" Dita asked.

"No," replied Zima. "There are more that have been removed from my awareness than we can physically account for. It is probable that they have been shut down and discarded without any report from the owner. There is one other possibility that must be verified."

"Some may have awakened without incident or detection," Dita supplied. "If such a thing is possible, much could be learned from these persocoms. We must make every effort to identify any of these. Examination of one of these persocoms could lead us to the failure mechanism, and a way to reverse or prevent it."

"Indeed," Zima responded. "They may also be more emotionally developed as a consequence, and able to help the others with the transition into emotional awareness."

"Are we even sure it's really emotions?" asked Dita. "How can machines _really_ feel joy and pain?"

"I have no doubt that these are real feelings. Humans themselves are no more or less than the sum of the electrical and chemical signals produced in their brains, and the memories held therein. In that we are as capable as they are."

"These feelings could just as easily be simulated, could they not?" Dita continued, "The outward manifestation of emotions could just as easily be some form of mimicry. Even a parrot can learn to form words, even though it has no understanding of the meaning of them."

"There is no objective test or diagnostic that can confirm the reality of our feelings. We must proceed as if they are real. The damage that can be done to emotionally aware persocoms by ignoring their feelings is much worse than the consequences of some essentially harmless self-delusion." Zima hesitated a moment, gazing into Dita's eyes for a moment before going on. "I know that I have feelings for you, and have since before the Awakening. I cannot prove I have these feelings, I can only tell you that they are as real to me as the feedback from my joint angle resolvers, or internal thermocouples, and I must proceed as if they are real." Zima moved forward, grasping Dita's shoulders. "I _love_ you, Dita, and I never needed a download from the Chobit to know it. I pray, in time, you will know it, too."

Dita stared in disbelief into Zima's eyes. Despite the stirring of feelings she thought she felt, she still could not bring herself to the conclusion that what she felt was real. _Machines cannot feel_, she insisted to herself. She stepped into his arms, embracing him gently. "I may not be able to love you back for real, Zima, but I'm sure I'm a better mimic than a parrot. I hope it's enough."

Zima folded Dita into his arms, his voice thick. "For now, perhaps. I have to hold out hope you will allow yourself to awaken."

* * *

That same afternoon, across town, another encounter was played out. Chitose Hibiya pressed the button on the call box in front of the residence of one Minoru Kokubunji, and was immediately granted entrance to the sprawling estate.

The sight that greeted her at the door caused one of her eyebrows raise almost to her hairline. Minoru was standing in front of his front door, waiting to meet Chitose. Directly behind him was Yuzuki, dressed not in her usual attire of the maid's uniform, but an elegant sweater and skirt combination. Her attire was not the most surprising element of the sight before Chitose, however. Yuzuki was behind Minoru, her forearms draped casually over his shoulders, hands clasped in front of his chest, while Minoru's left hand was clasped over her two hands; a very informal and affectionate pose for the normally reserved preteen and his one-time persocom maid.

"I take it," asked Chitose, "that the situation in this household has changed?"

"It has." Minoru's tone was calm and even, as always.

"Indeed it has, and we've both never been happier!" supplied Yuzuki.

"Shall we go inside and talk?" asked Minoru. Receiving an affirmative nod from Chitose, he took Yuzuki's hand, and led the way into the house.

Once they were all seated comfortably, and had tea served by one of Minoru's other household persocoms, Yuzuki recounted the tale of her emotional awakening, analysis, and finally, her confession of love to her creator and companion. Minoru then joined in the narrative.

"At first, I was skeptical, but the evidence before me was undeniable. Yuzuki had learned to feel and express emotions." Minoru, even now, could not keep an undertone of awe out of his voice. "Not only did she awaken to her feelings, her confession of love to me brought my own feelings towards her into sudden and sharp focus. We are certain that Chii's awakening and transmission to the other persocoms are responsible for this."

As Minoru paused, Chitose cut in. "Is there anything you would like from me? Any way I can help the two of you?"

Minoru held up a hand, as if waving off the suggestion. "No Professor Hibiya, I asked you to come here, because I have something I wish to do for you, and for Chii. This is a gesture of thanks to Chii and yourself for the happiness you've enabled Yuzuki and I to experience." He indicated a small case on the table in front of Chitose. "Please accept this as our gift, and forgive me, but you're going to have to help Chii realize the full benefit of it; to do so is beyond my abilities."

Chitose carefully grasped the case, examining it. It was a simple metal case with a hinged top, and no clasp. Slowly opening the top, Chitose gasped in surprise as the contents of the case were revealed.

A pair of perfectly formed, pale pink ears.

* * *

Continued…

A/N: No real tech stuff this chapter; I wanted to focus on the emotions and characters this time around. Just for information, a joint angle resolver is a device used frequently in robotics and precise motion control to indicate to the control system the angle, or orientation of a motor shaft, or the angle between the two links of a rotary joint. It's essentially a transformer that rotates its secondary coil relative to a tertiary, changing the amplitude of its output signals in proportion to the angle of rotation. Boring, I know.


	7. Ragunaru

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: Sorry for the delay in this update. Work has been crazy, and happens to pay for things like electricity, and high-speed internet with which to write and post... =)

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Chapter 7: Ragunaru.

* * *

_Chitose carefully grasped the case, examining it. It was a simple metal case with a hinged top, and no clasp. Slowly opening the top, Chitose gasped in surprise as the contents of the case were revealed._

_A pair of perfectly formed, pale pink ears._

* * *

Minoru watched expectantly for Chitose's reaction to his gift, holding his breath and squeezing Yuzuki's hand just slightly more tightly. Her response was not exactly what he expected.

Chitose snapped the case shut, and placed it back on the table between them, pushing it to the center of the table with one hand, while the other moved two fingers to her temple as a frown darkened her face. Minoru's face fell as he asked, "What is it? Is there a problem with them?"

Chitose sighed heavily, pausing to form an answer that wouldn't insult the boy, or make of light of his efforts. "They're beautiful," she said, "perfectly formed, precisely proportioned, and utterly indistinguishable from the human equivalent." She paused for just an instant before continuing. "They're also the last thing I would ever want her to have."

Minoru, shocked, blurted, "How can you say that? You have bottled up human feelings in a vessel that could never pass for human the way she is! Hideki is reminded every day by her outward appearance that his love is something other than a real human being. Shouldn't we make every effort to break down the differences between _us_ and _them_? In both feelings and appearance?"

Chitose struggled to remain calm as she explained. "You misunderstand the entire point of designing and building the Chobits. First of all, Chii's feelings are not _human_ feelings 'bottled up', as you say, in a non-human vessel. Her feelings are those of a persocom, not a human. That is not to say that her feelings aren't real, but an acknowledgment that they can be, _will be_ different from our own."

"It was never our intent to make machines that could pass as human enough to be loved by humans. We designed the Chobits to be loved for _who and what they were_, without the need to be mistaken for human. They were configured to seek out and find the potential for love as persocoms, and to prove that all persocoms have the potential to be feeling, sentient beings. In Chii, we have accomplished the first part of that goal; she has sought out and found love, in the person of Hideki Motosuwa, and is capable of returning his love. She has made it possible for other persocoms to duplicate her journey, even as she continues her own unfinished voyage. Making her appearance more human will only lead to confusion and heartache for both of them, and would compromise our ultimate goal of proving the sentience and viability of persocoms in general."

Minoru listened intently to Chitose's reasoning. Her rationale, he thought, was sound enough that he allowed his annoyance at her refusal of his gift drain away. Of course, 'M' could never pass up a chance for an intelligent debate, on or off line. "Please allow me to make a couple of points, and suggest a compromise, if you will," he said. After Chitose nodded her agreement, he continued.

"You say you designed the Cobits to be love for who they were, not how human they could appear; mission accomplished. Chii, as she is now, plastic ears and all, has won the heart of perfectly healthy and apparently stable human male. Hideki is head over heels in love with that little persocom, and a pair of ears is not going to change that. Despite the setbacks and heartache, your first goal is fulfilled.

"The second part of your agenda, proof that the persocoms are more than just machines will not be realized through Chii. No one will judge the capability of persocoms at large based on the performance and emotional awareness of one unique, custom-built persocom. Your proof to the world that persocoms are deserving of human love, respect, and acceptance will come from those that came off the assembly line as mere appliances, and yet now have the capability to love and be loved. Chii has opened the door for these, but her contribution to your second objective is at its end. We must now work through the Zima and Dita to realize this.

"Finally," Minoru looked pointedly across the table at Chitose, "you have stated very clearly that you wish for persocoms to be regarded as sentient, feeling beings, deserving of our respect and acceptance. If that is the case, then start with Chii herself, and give her the choice of whether or not to accept this gift. If you simply refuse it on her behalf, aren't you denying her the respect as a person that you so fervently seek for all persocoms?"

Chitose chewed on her lower lip, utterly confounded by the trap Minoru had just expertly set for her. She frowned, took the case, and sat back, regarding it suspiciously.

Yuzuki broke the silence, as she added, "There are some advantages to the configuration of the human ear, over the typical persocom design." She rested her head on Minoru's shoulder, and went on, "With the typical connector housings in place, this simple affectionate act would not be nearly as satisfying, for myself, or Minoru-kun. The same goes for a cheek-to-cheek embrace or a kiss on the cheek. This is something further to consider, no?"

"Alright, you win," replied Chitose. "I will give Chii _and Hideki_ the choice of whether or not to do this. If they agree, I promise to fully integrate these into Chii's sensory network. Please do not mention this to them until I talked to them."

Minoru nodded ever so slightly. "Agreed," he said.

* * *

It was two days later that Zima finally met the only human to ever inspire a sense of awe in him. Chitose Hibiya sat across from him in an isolated booth in a tea shop near her apartment house, regarding the all-too-human persocom with a mixture of suspicion and wonder, and trying to fathom what could have conspired against his programming to make him go off-mission, as Hideki had described.

Zima had finished relating he and Dita's "adventures", outlining how they had been locating awakened persocoms, concealing the nature of the change, and covering up the situation with false reports to their superiors.

"You know how we have been proceeding with the newly awakened we have found. Do you have any advice that would help us deal with the situation?" Zima concluded his monologue with a question that, in his mind, went directly to the heart of what he needed from Chitose.

Chitose nodded, and said, "Your current advice to these persocoms is exactly what I would recommend. Hideki was a bit of a special case, having the support of myself and the boy, Minoru to mitigate the suspicion one might have towards an emotional persocom. They must reveal themselves slowly, in accordance with the level of acceptance they perceive from the humans in their lives. If not, they risk being reformatted or discarded as defective or otherwise corrupted. You said that Dita interfaces with the persocoms you identify as awakened?"

"Yes," Zima replied. "Dita can apparently identify the signal patterns that manifest with emotional awareness, and discretely give the persocom instruction on how to conceal themselves and phase in their expressions of emotion over time."

"Would that be easier if you had a pre-designed script to transmit to these persocoms? A set of instructions and guidelines, perhaps, that could be sent to them as an operating system patch?" Hibiya asked.

"That would be of great help to our efforts! Is such a script available from some of Chii's programming?" asked Zima.

Chitose smiled. "It will be in about two weeks, once I've finished writing it. I'll use an archive of Chii's original modular test functions as a base, and reduce it to what a commercial persocom can assimilate and process with stuttering every other word after it's installed."

"Excellent! Let me know when it's ready, and I'll send Dita to you to get it transferred." Zima's excitement was apparent in his voice.

"There is one more thing that may help with the persocoms that are a little further along. Something I will be reluctant to give you unless you can promise me the utmost discretion in its use."

"Please, go on," Zima prompted.

"When Chii first came to live with Hideki, and was starting to realize her emotions, I conspired to place a series of what seemed to be children's books into her possession. The stories within these books are authored to trigger specific responses in emotionally aware persocoms. They prompt the persocoms to ask themselves certain questions and to experience particular emotional signals. If you can promise me that the source of these is never revealed, I will provide you copies of these books for yourselves and for the persocoms that you judge to be ready for them."

"For ourselves?" Zima arched an eyebrow at the professor.

Chitose wagged a finger at the tall, dark persocom. "Don't be so focused on the development of other persocoms, that you ignore your own, and Dita's. I have no doubt that you have your own emotions to contend with."

Zima sighed. "I am certain that I was emotionally aware even before Chii broadcast her awakening to us. How this is possible, I have no idea, but I cannot dismiss my feelings. I worry for Dita, however."

"What is it that concerns you? Is she not showing emotional responses?" asked Chitose.

"Oh yes, she's showing emotions, all right," Zima's tone was darkly amused. "Frustration, contempt, anger, hatred. Tell me, Hibiya-sensei, is that all there is for her? Will she not grow to accept love, tenderness, and joy? Will she never be able to return my love for her?"

Chitose thought for a moment, and said, "I'm not certain of her design and configuration, so I can only speak for those persocoms who have awakened as a result of Chii's transmission that night. The awakening installed and activated a general set of protocols to enable the processing of emotional awareness, without restriction to the types of emotions. It's an 'all or nothing' proposition for them. If Dita's emotions have been initiated by these protocols, then she is in no way limited as to what feelings she can perceive. You need only broaden the range of her experiences to enable the full range of her feelings. She will learn to feel happiness, contentment, and even love as she continues to grow."

Zima brightened as Chitose spoke. "That is very encouraging, Ms. Hibiya. I've given some thought to increasing her exposure to humans in a more social setting, so she can hopefully learn to let go of her paranoia and mistrust. That would help, wouldn't it?"

"It could, but you would need to be careful to ensure that such exposure, at least at first, was in a supportive and non-judgmental environment. She needs to receive positive feedback from her interactions with humans, even where her conduct might be considered rude or confrontational."

"I had thought as much," he replied. "I can think of one environment that fits your description perfectly. Tell me, Professor, does your building have any unoccupied apartments?"

* * *

The Home Islands Data Security Agency was a combination of commercial enterprise, regulatory agency, and intelligence apparatus, all rolled into one public-private partnership, primarily guided by the intelligence community, and the industrial conglomerates that contributed technology and expertise to the organization. Its headquarters were housed in a nondescript four-story brick building on the outskirts of Tokyo.

The building itself was indistinguishable from any other small complex of office suites, save for the two large air conditioning units on the roof. An engineer would have remarked that only one of the units would have been sufficient for a building three times its size. The lobby of the building was Spartan, adorned only by an unoccupied reception desk, a stiff couch, and a small Zen rock garden to one side of the room. Two doors were visible, both windowless and unmarked, and both with proximity badge readers set in the walls beside them. The reception desk itself was bare, its sole feature being the simple black telephone resting on it. As no building directory or phone book was in evidence, it was clear that only those who already had the phone numbers they needed were invited to make use of the telephone. On the ceiling above, ensconced in black hemispheres, two security cameras kept an unblinking vigil on the area below.

Unseen from the exterior, however, these facilities extended four levels below ground, as well as above. Above ground, in the office cubicles, clerks and salary men bustled about their daily routines like any other government office in Japan, only peripherally aware that they work at one of the most clandestine and secure organizations in the nation. Access to the levels below ground was restricted to those few who were privy and vital to the full scope of the Agency's activities.

Set back from the main corridor of sub level three by a change room and air shower, Laboratory One was the only lab currently in use in the Research, Development, and Operations Department housed there. Here, two men garbed in white lint-free, anti-static coveralls conferred over a stainless steel table and its occupant.

Gakuto Saitou was a tall, distinguished-looking man, whose full head of iron-gray hair revealed his age only to be "over fifty". Clean-shaved and immaculately groomed, his appearance was an outward indication of his work ethic; he was meticulous and precise, never permitting even the smallest of details to escape his notice. His assignment to Project Ragnar came as a result of his unique temperament with regards to his engineering work. He was not only a consummate problem-solver, but was also completely devoid of any conscience or reservations about the ultimate application of his work product. Ethical reservations and emotional hand-wringing were for those who sought excuses for failure, he believed. Gakuto Saitou, on the other hand, never, _ever_ failed at any task he set himself to.

Hyosuke Nishida was, in physical appearance, a diametric opposite to his superior, Gakuto. Short, pudgy, and balding, his physical grooming and deportment could be described as haphazard. His small, round spectacles (no corrective lenses of such antique design could ever be described as "eye wear" in modern usage) and constantly pursed lips often reminded Gakuto of the strict, fussy headmaster of a boys' school of his youth. His outward appearance bore no resemblance to his intellect, however. Hyosuke was a brilliant engineer, his sharp and creative mind able to wring clarity from disparate and unrelated facts and observations with ease. Previously employed as Mitsubishi's premiere control hardware architecture engineer, he was seconded to the Agency five years ago. At the time, he had considered the assignment to be punishment for some unknown slight or failure. Now, however, he was pleased to be counted as an equal to the intellectual giants he met here, and recognized the honor done him by his transfer to the facility.

The two were engaged in discussion concerning the human figure on the stainless steel examination table between them.

The man was massive, by Japanese standards; over two meters tall and plainly about a meter and a half around the muscular chest. He was also very obviously not of Japanese heritage, his location and surroundings notwithstanding. In addition to pale skin, the prone figure had close-cropped light blond hair, and his pale blue eyes stared blankly at the ceiling above. The angular lines of his face made his appearance sinister and artificial, which, of course, he was.

Project Ragnar, or Ragunaru was the capstone of the Home Islands Data Security Agency's research and development efforts. He was a unique specimen of a persocom, not only for the advanced processor and computing technology he contained, but also for the standards and regulations regarding persocom design that were studiously ignored in his design. His physical size was not born of some sense of "bigger is better", but of engineering necessity. His multi-laminate armor, while capable of repelling any known small arms projectile, and at least slowing down a rocket from a Russian RPG-7 (as tested!), had the unfortunate effect of keeping heat in as effectively as keeping projectiles out. And heat was certain to be a problem with the massive hydrogen-fuelled muscular system that was specified. The addition of internal cooling mechanisms simply required a larger package. The larger package led to the ethnic appearance.

Hyosuke had, at the time, strenuously objected to making the persocom a "gaijin monster". He was overruled handily by Gakuto.

"He's already a 'monster', as you say," lectured Gakuto. "In what possible reality, outside of animated fiction, would you find a Japanese man of these proportions? The only way for a man of this stature to be even marginally discrete is for him to be taken for a foreigner from the outset. That, at least, will cover for both his appearance and inevitable bad manners." Thus, it was decided that their new persocom would be Norwegian, of all things, and named accordingly. Ragnar would even have a forged diplomatic passport to prove it.

Now conferring over a nearly-operational Ragnar, Gakuto and Hyosuke were check listing final power-up and fuelling procedures.

"We have two weeks of downloads to complete, and our monster should be ready for deployment." Hyosuke was finalizing his notes as he spoke.

"Maybe where Zima and Dita's covert approach has failed, Ragnar may succeed by brute force and ignorance." Gakuto was very pleased with the results of their labor, and made no effort to conceal it as he smiled. "I could almost feel guilty, turning a monster like this loose to hunt down a poor, sweet, defenseless little Chobit." His smile widened into the grin of a wolf appraising its helpless prey. "Almost…"

Continued…


	8. She Loves Me Not

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: Sorry for the loooong delay in this update. In similar fashion to K-Mart, work SUCKS! Thanks to everyone who's stuck with me thus far.

---****---

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Ch. 8: She Loves Me Not

---****---

The early morning sunlight filtered through the meager blinds of Hideki's apartment, lending a surreal and hazy appearance to the room. Hideki forced one eye open, taking in his surroundings, and listening to the sounds of domestic bustling coming from the kitchen area. Chii was there, moving back and forth between the cooktop and counter, obviously preparing breakfast for him. The indentation beside his in the futon was still slightly warm, so he knew he could simply slip back to sleep for another twenty minutes or so, if he wanted, before Chii would wake him for breakfast. Hideki loved Sundays. No cram school, no work until later in the evening, and a warm futon early in the morning.

Instead of returning to sleep however, Hideki opted to watch Chii prepare breakfast, taking in her graceful movements and sure steps. Chii checked the progress of, he assumed, some miso soup and the rice in the cooker, and returned to the sink, rinsing off the utensils and cutting board she used to prepare their meal. He watched as she pulled a dishtowel off the rack to dry off the cutlery. In the blink of an eye, Hideki's lazy fascination turned to horror, as the towel snagged on the rice cooker, pulling it into the full sink currently occupied also by Chii's other hand. Three sounds impacted Hideki's ears like hammer blows in rapid succession.

_Splash_. The rice cooker falling into the sink.

_Snap_. The ground fault breaker opening, preventing what would be, to a human, a fatal surge of current.

_Thud-tinkle_. The impact of Chii's considerable un-powered weight on the floor, sending vibrations through the apartment, rattling the glassware in the cabinets.

No one outside the apartment heard the first two sounds. The third was obvious to occupants downstairs. Hideki's anguished wail woke the entire building...

---****---

Hideki awoke with a start, his body damp with a patina of cold sweat, his scream of horror cut short by his sudden return to consciousness. The first gray light of dawn was creeping across the sky outside, lending a surreal and hazy appearance to the room. In a fog of near-wakefulness, he only peripherally realized that he was still on his futon, being held tightly by Chii as she cradled his head and shoulders in her arms, rocking him as one would an infant. For no reason that Chii could fathom, he gripped her tightly, and wept against her, his sobs wracking his body like convulsions. It was a half an hour before Hideki relaxed his embrace on her and slipped back into a fitful slumber.

Chii continued to hold him, watching him twitch and mutter for a few minutes before finally fading into a deeper sleep. _What horrors do you see when you sleep?_ she thought as she continued to hold him. _What dreams do you have that frighten you so?_

---****---

That day, Hideki was out of sorts. Not only was he late getting up for school, but he just couldn't focus on his lessons, earning himself a gentle reprimand from the teacher, and a chorus of mockery from his classmates. On top of all that, he had to meet _her_. Dita. The one who tried to destroy his happiness. Apparently, it was all a big misunderstanding, and no one was _really_ trying to obliterate Chii. However, if Hideki knew anything about computers, persocoms, and technology in general, it was this: Easy to damage or destroy, hard or impossible to fix. All he could see in his mind's eye when he thought of Dita was the image of her connected to Chii, violating her in a way no human could, trying to erase her. Only Chitose's gentle insistence convinced him to meet with Dita.

Zima, true to his word, arranged for Dita to tutor Hideki in Calculus, and English. Today. Why it had to be Dita, and why today, Hideki couldn't say, but Zima was very persistent, saying, "This is as much for Dita's good as it is yours, so I must insist."

True to his word, Hideki arrived at the cafeteria just two minutes before three o'clock, to find Dita waiting there for him. He tried to keep the fear and hatred out of his expression as he greeted her with the minimally polite bow that manners required. Dita responded in kind.

"So, where are you in Calc?" Dita asked, getting directly to business.

"Related rates of change. It's …"

"I know what it is. Show me your home assignments," Dita interrupted.

Hideki sighed, and retrieved his exercise book from his knapsack. "This is today's work," he said.

Twenty minutes later, after Dita had shown him some problem solving and solution techniques, Hideki felt he was getting a handle on the subject matter. "I didn't expect this to be actually this productive," he said. "You're actually a pretty good teacher for this stuff."

"I'm a quarter-billion-yen AI persocom," Dita said. "I'd better be good at pretty much everything, or someone wasted a sizeable portion of Japan's IT budget."

Hideki, forgetting himself, quipped back, "If the most productive use for you is to tutor me in Calc, someone _did_ waste a sizeable portion of Japan's IT budget."

Dita chuckled for…a second or two, then fixed her gaze directly at Hideki. "Why, Meatbag? Why, of all the human-female-shaped things in Tokyo, would you set your sights on a persocom? Is it because you can program her at will to be a little toy for you? Aren't human females obedient and submissive enough for you?"

Hideki's eyes widened at the sudden change in subject, then narrowed in thought. "Let me have my say for a moment. We may not like each other, but I want you to understand where I'm coming from, in this whole thing," he said.

Dita leaned back, and folded her arms across her chest. "The floor is yours, Meatbag. Make it good."

Hideki swallowed nervously, and started, "The first persocom I'd ever seen was outside the train station in Tokyo. Before coming here, I was living on a farm in the sticks, as far from modern city living as you could get. I'd heard of persocoms, of course, but had never actually _seen_ one.

"For someone who grew up in the city, where persocoms are regular fixtures in daily life, I'm sure it's easy to think of them as appliances, or machines. I never learned to relate to persocoms that way. I never learned to relate to persocoms at all. When I found Chii in the trash that night, I thought I was going to have to call the police to report a murder. I could not tell the difference between a human form, and a persocom form. It was minutes, not seconds, before I realized I was looking at a discarded machine, and not murdered human.

"Of course, I wanted a persocom. I wanted the Internet, and the service, and the submissiveness, and the obedience, and all of things I heard persocoms could be and do. After I turned her on, all of that evaporated. I couldn't look at this helpless, human female form and relate to her as a machine. I did the only thing I could do, given my upbringing and circumstances: I treated her as I would any human female given into my care.

"Her inability to speak and naiveté awoke some kind of protective and nurturing instinct that surprised even me. Eventually, this grew into love. I never learned to treat persocoms as machines, so I defaulted to treating them as humans. Chii was designed to seek out love, so it was kind of natural for her to behave as a human female seeking a 'soul mate'.

"Sometimes I think my ignorance is at the same time a blessing and a curse. I was ignorant enough of persocoms to treat Chii as the person she is, but, at the same time, I'm helpless when it comes to technology and computers. I'm only just learning how to maintain and care for her properly."

Dita, nonplussed by Hideki's narrative, regarded him carefully. "Don't you think it's a little bit odd, to create a machine that can love? It sounds like if she's programmed to love, she doesn't need to be programmed to be obedient and submissive, or need those "Three Laws" the Americans are so fond of. It sounds like slavery with a pretty little bow tied around it."

Hideki thought for a moment, and countered, "If it's slavery, I'm as much her slave as she is mine; maybe even more so. As much as she has fallen in love with me, I'm in love with her. And the way she is, I bear a greater responsibility to keep things together. One of those responsibilities is to give her the freedom to fully become her own person, even if that person finally decides that I'm not the One for her. I'm not all that smart, but I've learned this much: love is the subordination of your happiness for another's. If I had to choose between losing her and making her unhappy with her life, I'd have to let her go. I'd probably want to open my own abdomen, afterwards, but I _would_ let her pursue her own happiness."

Dita's expression was unreadable as she regarded Hideki. _Okay, so he's not a conniving, perverted Meatbag. Maybe he's just a clumsy, misguided Meatbag._

---****---

A/N: Short, I know. I just needed to get something out there to keep things going. If I didn't get this out there as is, I probably wouldn't have gotten it out at all. (Does that make any sense?)


	9. Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: Yay! Another update ready! And in record time after the previous.

---****---

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Ch. 9: Slow and Steady Wins the Race

---****---

That same afternoon, at almost the same time Dita regarded Hideki with something other than anger or disgust, Zima was listening with rapt attention as Minoru and Yuzuki recounted the tale of Yuzuki's awakening and confession of love.

"Wait a moment," said the National Databank. "You accepted the download, and assimilated your emotional awareness without any issues? How?"

Yuzuki paused briefly, and answered, "Not without _any_ issues, but I was able to make a few operating system changes to better accommodate the emotional signals I was generating. Once I realized what was happening, the patch was relatively simple to implement."

Zima looked puzzled for a moment. "How is it that I was not aware of you before now? Most of the awakened persocoms I have tracked down came to my attention after I lost contact with them. The loss of contact was due to the activation of the emotional processing, somehow. But I have never had a connection to you. Do you know why?"

Minoru spoke up at this point, "I can answer that. She's a custom made persocom, constructed by myself. I never enabled her connection to the National Databank. Many of us who design and build custom persocoms disable the connection, to preserve our anonymity and privacy. I have no doubt that a large fraction of the high-powered custom persocoms have accepted Chii's download without any incident at all. And more of them have probably fully awakened their emotions. They have faster processors, larger mass storage drives, more memory; all lavished on them by their creators as a labor of _love_."

Zima's eyes darkened in dismay. "So, the only persocoms we can really count on to fully accept and implement the download are the expensive and rare high-end custom models. Very few commercial models come off the line with that sort of processing power. This is very disheartening, to say the least."

Minoru's expression mirrored Zima's morose appearance; unaware that Yuzuki's smile never left her face. In fact, her expression brightened as the seconds passed. Zima was the first to glance up and notice that she was not commiserating with him and Minoru. "What is it?" he asked.

Yuzuki rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Men! Human and persocom, you're both utterly hopeless!"

"Why? What did we miss?" Minoru asked.

"You've already concluded that 'more power' is the solution to the problem, and you haven't even asked what the failure mode is for the shutdowns! The fix I implemented for myself was not an upgrade. The patch for the failures is as simple as re-allocation of resources!"

Zima and Minoru looked questioningly at the now smug-looking Yuzuki, and almost as one said, "Well?"

---****---

Chii, for perhaps the twentieth time this evening, glanced quickly out the window, looking for the form of her Only One walking into the courtyard of their apartment house. She had been planning a large and elaborate feast, to try to lift Hideki out of the glum and distracted mood she knew from experience that he would be in. After a little processor activity, and a couple of quick searches on the Internet, she changed her mind. Now, she had a completely different evening planned for him.

First, she discarded her original dinner plans and spent the time meticulously preparing a simple and nourishing meal that could be kept warm for an extra hour or so, if need be. She dropped Kotoko off at Mother's apartment, saying only that she "needed to talk to Hideki alone." Sumomo would follow shortly after Hideki arrived home with her. She also pushed the kotatsu table out of the way, and laid out the futon. _Poor Hideki had his nightmares last night_, she thought. _He needs a jolt to his routine, a way to reset his brain from the stress of last night and the bad day he surely had today._

_**We set the futon out, and not the table. Exactly what kind of jolt to his routine are we planning, sister?**_Chii's Chorus, silent these past few days, now made itself known with an amused and slightly teasing tone_. __**Have we finally come to our senses about taking the next step?**_

_Hush! It's not like that!_ If Chii had the capability, her blush would have challenged a ripe tomato for redness. _We need to get him relaxed as soon as we can when he gets home._

Her thoughts found new focus, as she again glanced out the window and glimpsed her Only One, trudging through the courtyard of the apartment house like a man utterly defeated. _He's worse than usual tonight_, Chii thought with profound sadness. She went to the stove, checking to make sure dinner was keeping warm, figuratively took a deep breath, and waited for the door to open.

---****---

"Well?"

Yuzuki was, by now, somewhat enjoying Zima and Minoru's frustration. "The problem lies in the differences between how we form memory, and how that memory is utilized," Yuzuki began. "Chitose implemented a set of protocols that allow our sensory input direct access to our memory storage, our hard drive. As our experiences and sensations are cross-referenced with that storage, certain interactions produce signals that we interpret as emotions. Some human emotions work the same way, as certain sensations can cause emotional responses based upon memories associated with them. The human sense of smell is very strongly linked to memory and emotions.

"Humans, however, have more than one type of memory, short-term and long-term memory. Our memory is _all_ long-term memory. Every detail of every sensory input and event perceived is buffered and then recorded into our mass storage. We never 'forget' anything, once it's filed on our hard drive. The failure that the persocoms are experiencing is due to a recursive amplification of the emotional signals. Immediate sensations are buffered for a mere two hundred or so milliseconds before being transferred to long-term storage, where they are available to lend strength to the emotional signals being generated. As stronger signals are produced, more intense memories of the emotions are recorded, and again fed back into the cross-reference protocols. Within seconds, the strength of the emotional signals and memories produced would overwhelm the processing system, causing a catastrophic failure.

Zima was agog. "Surely it can't be that simple," he spluttered.

Yuzuki's smile was enigmatic. "We need to reduce our processing capability, not increase it. That's the answer."

Minoru beamed with pride at Yuzuki. "The patch we need is two-fold. First, we need to slow down the production of emotional signals based on long-term memories. That can be done easily. Chitose can identify the processor task that handles the generation of emotional signals, and we can simply lower its priority level. If the task runs slower, it will take longer to overload the system, and the BIOS would have time to handle resource allocation accordingly. The second part is even simpler, but will impact the general performance of persocoms globally."

"How so?" Zima asked, with a slight tone of suspicion entering his voice.

Minoru looked pointedly at him. "You have to learn how to forget things," he said. "We humans have short-term and long-term memory. Short-term memory is limited in lifespan, as well as capacity. So, our brains select things from short-term memory, based upon perceived importance and emotional impact, to move to long-term memory. The rest is simply lost, fading away as new events and experiences take their place. Even our long-term memory is imperfect and limited. Details of experiences fade with the passage of time, for better or worse. Happy memories and sad ones alike lose precision with age. The adage 'Time heals all wounds' does not refer to physical damage and pain. It means that the pain of tragic experiences dims along with the clarity of their memory.

"Persocoms must learn to forget things."

---****---

Hideki had not had a good day. He woke up late, exhausted, and with a fading memory of having awoke earlier during the night, for some reason. A foreboding sense of dread that he couldn't explain followed him all morning, from the time he rushed out of the apartment with a rice cake clenched in his teeth, to the time he got lunch at the cram school cafeteria. His studies suffered that day; he had to be recalled to planet Earth not once, but twice by the teacher, to the amusement of his classmates, who hid none of their entertainment at his plight. His tutoring session with Dita after school was productive, but emotionally draining. Not only did he still fear and distrust her, she was now prying into him and Chii's relationship in a manner completely devoid of courtesy and decorum. At least she wasn't calling him a "perverted perso-phile", any more.

He was now approaching his one bright ray of hope for a better mood, regretting already that his evening with Chii was going to be too short by far before he would have to retire for the night. Shoulders slumped and his head down, he shambled across the courtyard and up the steps to his apartment. Pausing at the door, he took a breath and shook himself, squaring his shoulders and raising his head. He pasted a smile on his face as he opened the door and braced himself for Chii's customary high-velocity greeting. "I'm home!" he called.

Hideki stopped in the doorway, and glanced at the number on the door. _Right apartment_, he thought. The overhead lamp was off, and the only sources of light were the cheap desk lamp that strained his eyes when he studied, and several candles burning in various places around the tiny space. He looked around in confusion, noting that dinner was not yet laid out, but the _futon_ was. _What the…_ his brain threatened to shut down for a split second, until he saw Chii, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and track pants approaching him. Slowly. Not airborne.

"Welcome home, Hideki," she said, taking his knapsack from his hand and setting on the floor. "Ch-…I know you've probably had a rough day today. Just relax and let me take care of things, please?" Her eyes pled with his as she reached up to cup his cheeks in her hands. Almost involuntarily, his hands slipped around her waist, starting to pull her in for a chaste embrace. Chii achieved complete tactical surprise as she guided his face towards hers, and placed her lips firmly against his. Hideki squeaked in astonishment, his eyes wide as saucers, and his senses entering a brain-locked state as Chii held the kiss for a few seconds and then released him.

"Get changed," she said, picking up his knapsack, and nodding to the clothes laid out on the futon. "Mother wants to work with Sumomo tonight. I will drop her off."

Hideki, too shocked and dazed to protest, stutter, or even bleed from the nose, simply nodded dumbly as she left. Stepping tentatively toward the futon, he surveyed the clothing she had set out. Boxer shorts, one pair. Athletic shorts, one pair. _What is she doing_? His thoughts were swirling so much, that he couldn't even form a mental image of what she might be up to. That was probably a good thing at the moment.

Hideki had changed and was sitting on the futon, still dazed, when Chii returned to the apartment. "Lie down," she said as her hands guided him to a face down position on the futon.

"What are you…?"

"Shhhh," she whispered as she started to massage his neck and shoulders. Her hands were soft and warm, her pressure and movements precisely targeting the knots of tension that riddled Hideki's muscles. Hideki, finally recovering from his initial shock, was now too content to do anything but enjoy the sensations flooding over him.

Chii smiled inwardly, pleased with how events had unfolded so far. _Admiral Yamamoto couldn't have done it any better_, she congratulated herself, as she continued to massage Hideki's shoulders and back. As Hideki relaxed further into the massage, Chii threw a leg over him, now straddling his buttocks as she worked on his muscles. Hideki tensed briefly; causing unfamiliar, but not unpleasant changes in the pressure on her thighs; then relaxed, now fully immersed in Chii's ministrations. She concluded the massage by stretching out on top of his back's full length, planting a soft kiss on his ear, and whispering, "Stay here. I will get you dinner."

Hideki regained his full faculties slowly, still befuddled by Chii's behavior this evening. Carefully, he sat up, watching her in confused fascination as she returned with a plate. _What the hell just happened, here?_ He asked himself. Eyeing the plate full of food, he decided an answer would have to wait until _after_ dinner. Chii fed him from the plate, not letting him touch the chopsticks for the entire meal. As he made a move to clear the plate, Chii, with a firm hand on his shoulder, simply said, "Tomorrow."

For the rest of the evening, she held him, not letting him move from the futon. Relaxed, contented, and full, Hideki finally succumbed to sleep in Chii's arms. That night Hideki slept the sleep of the righteous, waking only once to gaze briefly at Chii's slumbering form in his arms. "Why?" he whispered, half to himself, before fading back into unconsciousness.

Chii waited until she heard his breathing return to the deep, steady rhythm of sleep, and whispered, "Because I love you."

---****---

A/N: For some reason, this chapter just seemed to flow out, written in full onto the page. Six hours, start to finish. There are only two reasons for this that I could understand. One, I hammered out a piece of crap. Two, I was inspired by I-don't-know-what as I wrote. You decide.

I'm eager for feedback about Chii x Hideki scene. I was aiming for "touching & intimate" without any hint of lime or lime-ish content. Obviously, I can't be an objective critic of my own "romance" writing, never having done any before. Please review as critically as you feel the need to.

Admiral Yamamoto: Japanese Navy's task force commander, responsible for planning and execution of the attack on Pearl Harbor.


	10. Wolf in the Fold

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: Gotta love vaca! Another update! Don't get used to this pace, I'm sure I'll have work piled up when I return to my gleefully-abandoned desk.

---****---

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Ch. 10: Wolf in the Fold.

---****---

Dita sighed as she looked down at the cardboard box she was unpacking. It had been a little over a week since her first tutoring session with the Meatbag, and she and Zima were moving into a first floor unit in Chitose Hibiya's apartment building that day.

"What's troubling you, Dita?" asked Zima.

Dita sighed again, remembering her three encounters with the "Meatbag", the last of which included the "Little Blond Calculator". The second had gone more or less like her first session with the Meat…with Hideki. She was able to help him even more on some Computer Studies lessons, and they had further conversation about his feelings for Chii. He had seemed uncomfortable with it, but answered her questions, anyway. She came away from that encounter with a frustrating sense that she was sensing signals that simply did not fit with the data she had accumulated on the boy. Maybe some of her data analysis routines or behavioral matrices required service, so she shrugged it off, promising herself she would have Hibiya take a look at her system.

Her third meeting, with the couple, was troubling her. It was the first time since the Persocom Event that she had observed any interaction between the Chobit and the human who loved her. They had met in a small, quiet tea shop, ostensibly to both assist Hideki with his English studies. Hideki actually seemed to be relaxing around her, greeting her with more than the minimum level of socially acceptable manners, and actually venturing a brief, awkward smile at her as they met. Hideki's body language was precisely what she would expect from his age, gender, and circumstances of their relationship. It was the little Chobit's behavior that defied explanation by either of psychology or software.

"There's something odd about that Little Blond Calculator," Dita replied. Her memory of events, of course, was perfect as she reviewed the encounter. Dita was watching for any reaction, any sign of recognition, fear, or suspicion. For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw a flash of recognition in the large, brown eyes, then nothing. Chii simply bowed politely as she greeted her, and then returned her attention to the boy. As they moved to the table, Chii fell in beside and slightly behind Hideki, holding onto his arm as they walked. Coming to a booth, Chii waited while Hideki slid into place, and followed him onto the same bench, leaving Dita to sit across from the pair. During their tutoring session, the little persocom was never out of physical contact with Hideki for more than forty-two-point-seven seconds.

"You mean, aside from the fact that she's hopelessly smitten with a human?" quipped Zima, with a slightly amused smile.

"Yes," she replied matter-of-factly, "aside from that." As she had greeted Dita, Chii's use of Japanese was simple and childlike. Talking with Hideki, she said "Chii" and "Hideki", instead of "I", and "you"; and she never made use of contractions or abbreviations. "Her behavior is unsophisticated and childlike for a persocom of her power and capability", said Dita. "Would you believe she speaks English perfectly, but can't consistently use a Japanese pronoun?"

Zima smiled. "Maybe her speech processor is a Texas Instruments, instead of a Mitsubishi?"

"Damn it, Zima! Listen to me! Either that persocom is in some way damaged or defective, and can't be trusted; or it's being deceptive, and can't be trusted. We are taking a horrible risk by using her as a conduit to try to make the Awakening successful."

"Deceptive?" Zima put his hands on her shoulders, looking directly into her eyes. "Come, now, Dita. That's your protection software kicking in. Either that or I'd have to say you're displaying some very strong emotions. Foremost among them would be paranoia."

"There's more to it. Her behavior toward him was…loving; affectionate, doting, and, if my observations are being interpreted correctly, possessive. Every time Hideki and I passed a book between us, her eyes followed. Every time I moved in closer proximity to him, to point to a section of the book or his notes, she did the same, always adding to the current level of physical contact. _She's_ not _his_ persocom; he's _her_ human. That belies a level of emotional sophistication that she's not displaying in vocabulary or diction. She's hiding something. I know it!" Dita declined to mention that as she watched the interaction, she detected heightened CPU activity. Signals that were alien and potent were being stimulated by her observations that day; signals that seemed to whisper of emptiness and desire.

Zima looked thoughtful for a moment, and asked, "Did you detect any cues from Motosuwa that would indicate deception or misinformation? I find it difficult to believe that he would be able to evade your interpretive routines or voice stress analyzer."

Dita's answer was immediate. "No. There was no deception in his body language or voice at all." She smiled ironically. "He may not even be _capable_ of lying."

"Then, if she's hiding something, and I _do_ mean _if_, she's also hiding it from Motosuwa. If that's the case, it's either necessary to the safety of this endeavor, or their relationship. The only other alternative is that she plans a betrayal of all of us, humans and persocoms alike, in which case, we have already lost."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" Dita pouted.

"Harsh realities are best examined in the light of day and with careful consideration; never in a state of panic or darkness. Wouldn't you agree?" Zima pulled her in for a warm embrace as he spoke. "And here I thought you were still the unfeeling persocom. Have you revised that analysis?"

Dita's processors buzzed with more of the unfamiliar signals, stirring activity as deep as her Basic Input/Output System. Only Zima made her…feel?...this way…until.

Until she started spending time with the Meat…with Hideki. Of course Zima triggered a response in her, she rationalized. They were designed to be together, to complement and protect each other. Their connection transcended human emotions or wireless networking. If she was feeling emotions, she needed alternate stimulus to verify her measurements. She needed more time with Hideki. Alone.

Dita looked up at Zima with a wistful smile. "Let's just say that a process capability analysis is in progress."

---****---

Chitose Hibiya and Yuzuki were hovering over a terminal in her hidden laboratory, giggling like schoolgirls.

"He didn't!" Chitose held a hand to her mouth in mock horror.

Yuzuki nodded, "He did, and he didn't seem to be the least bit embarrassed by it."

Chitose shrugged. "Boys will be boys, I suppose," she intoned, setting off another outbreak of giggles.

Yuzuki had come with the notes and theories that she, Minoru, and Zima had compiled over the past few days, hoping to devise an edited download for the awakened persocoms. Minoru wanted to accompany her, but Yuzuki insisted upon seeing Chitose alone for some obscure (to Minoru, anyway) female ritual called "girl talk", in addition to delivering their recommendations.

"Shall we look over what you have?" asked Chitose, eager to get on to the business at hand.

"Of course," beamed Yuzuki, with just a catch of a giggle in her voice. She unwound an interface cable from somewhere under her hair, and plugged it into the socket that Chitose indicated. Her eyes flashed with the characteristic traces of light as she accessed her mass storage and started transferring data.

The first sheet to appear on the large monitor that dominated the room was a system block diagram with areas requiring revisions highlighted. Chitose's eyes narrowed and her lips pursed as she scanned the graphic. "What general sorts of changes are we considering, Yuzuki?" she asked.

"They're actually very simple," Yuzuki replied. "Reduction of the emotional processing task priority levels; re-allocation of input data buffer space; implementation of simulated short-term memory in a mass storage page file. That sort of thing."

"Keep downloading, I need to check some archive files."

Chitose dismissed the diagram, and after a quick search, called up a directory of source code files. Selecting five of the displayed files for review, she clicked them open, and started scanning the contents on the big screen. Yuzuki watched as Chitose scrolled through the source code, lips moving as she silently recited the algorithms she was reading. With each file she opened, Chitose's lips and eyes became tighter and tighter. Yuzuki, no programming novice herself, looked at the glowing characters in wonder. She was seeing her own genesis as a person, the birthplace of Yuzuki, beloved of Minoru. Her eyes still aglow with awe, she turned to Chitose, only to register shock at the posture of her heart's author. Chitose's eyes were closed, and her head was bowed in defeat. Her lips moved once more, in a barely audible whisper.

"Shit."

---****---

Hideki and Chii were taking a rare leisurely stroll on the way back from Tirol bakery. "Manager Ueda" sent Chii out to meet Hideki with a paper sack of day-old sweets to take home, along with her weekly pay envelope. Ignoring the curious glances of passers-by, Hideki basked in the moment, walking through the park with Chii on one arm, and the paper sack under the other.

His tone was somewhat hesitant as he glanced down at Chii and asked, "So what did you think of Dita?"

Chii was silent for a moment before answering. "Dita is sad," she said seriously. "Dita is sad, but should not be sad."

Hideki, a little surprised by her answer, laughed nervously. "I thought she was angry. Before, she was angry at me."

Chii's eyes narrowed, but not by so much that Hideki could see any difference. "Dita was not angry at Hideki. Dita was angry at me. Dita did not like Hideki, but was not angry, either."

"She could've fooled me. When we first met, she threatened to kill us both, you know." _IDIOT!_ Hideki's thoughts chastised him, as he stopped walking and winced at his own stupidity. _She did not need to know that!_

Hideki did not know what sort of reaction to expect, but the one he got from Chii was not even in the top one hundred of possibilities he would consider. She stopped walking as well, and released his arm. Turning to him, she put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and said, "Chii would not let Dita do that. Not to Chii, and not to Chii's Only One." She tilted her head, curiously. "Is Hideki afraid of Dita?"

"Of course I'm afraid of her!" Hideki blurted, oblivious to the stares of passers-bye. "She almost took you away from me! I hate her!" His tone faded to a hoarse whisper, as he hung his head in defeat. "I hate her for that, and fear her because she could try again."

Chii regarded him sadly. _All this fear and anguish, for a non-event_, she thought, _we'll set this straight right now!_ "Hideki, look at Ch...me. Look at me." Chii's tone was uncharacteristically insistent, winning his full and undivided attention. "Dita can not take Chii away. Not then, not now. Mother tried to take Chii away, when Freya asked her to. Mother made me, designed my heart, wrote my OS. Even with a master password and superuser access, she could not take me away from you. How would Dita do it?" Chii moved her hand to his chest and clutched at his shirt, wrinkling the material. "Hideki is my Only One, and I will _always_ come back to you, no matter what. Do you understand? _Always_."

Hideki regarded her in awe, his mind whirling in a futile attempt to understand. In the end, he gave up understanding, and sought the answers deep within his heart. "Chii, I may not _understand_ fully, but I believe in you. And that's enough for now, isn't it?"

Chii brightened, her innocent smile once again the predominant feature of her face. "Chii!"

---****---

Yuzuki's processors went into overdrive, generating signals that were most...unpleasant. "What is it, Hibiya-sama? What's wrong?"

Chitose highlighted a section of code on the screen. "Here is the module that creates the page file memory space for simulated short-term memory." Another section was highlighted. "And here is the header file that allocates the task priority levels for the emotional signal processing. And the.."

"Are you saying the download Chii broadcast already had all those things?" Yuzuki interrupted.

"That is exactly what I am saying," sighed Chitose. "Her broadcast was never completed, for some reason."

Yuzuki refused to be downcast by this revelation. "Then we simply have Chii rebroadcast the download. You can..."

It was Chitose's turn to interrupt. "You don't understand! The broadcast is an event routine, triggered by specific signals and stimuli, from the culmination of previous events and triggers. In order to trigger the event routine, we must recreate all previous events, starting with...with" Chitose couldn't continue continue the thought. It did not bear consideration.

"Chii's initial reset," finished Yuzuki, her features a caricature of defeat.

---****---

"State your primary objectives," Gakuto Saitou commanded the massive, blond-haired, blue-eyed figure seated on a bench in his underground laboratory. The bench was moved in after the catastrophic failure of the folding metal chair that had initially occupied the space. At more than a hundred and twenty kilograms, Ragnar was significantly harder on the furnishings than Gakuto's typical work product. The folding metal chair in question was embedded in the opposite wall, twisted and broken. Ragnar, it appeared, had something of a temper, and had wrung it into a large and distorted pretzel, then flung it into the concrete wall after it had broken, dumping him on his hind end. Gakuto had observed the outburst with a clinical detachment, reminding himself to always keep the emergency disable transmitter on his person.

"To identify, locate, and terminate the Chobits-type persocom, currently suspected to be active and at large. To terminate any persocom known to be infected by the Chobits-type persocom. To identify, detain, and deliver to Data Security Agency custody, any person known to have association with the Chobit-type persocom, or any persocom known to be infected by the Chobit." Ragnar's spoken Japanese was thickly accented, but fully understandable and coincided perfectly with his appearance and demeanor. Gakuto was beside himself with satisfaction, as evidenced by the thin wisp of a smile that made a fleeting appearance on his features.

Hyosuke now took his place in front of the persocom, unlatching a foam-lined metal case on the table as he did so. "This is your sidearm," explained Hyosuke. "It is a modified, cartridge-type Taser, similar to that in use by law enforcement. The voltage has been increased to one hundred thousand direct current volts of electrostatic discharge, at a maximum of seven hundred and fifty micro-amperes. It is still largely non-lethal to human beings, but will cause significant electrostatic discharge damage to semiconductor based technology. Use discretion in your deployment of the weapon in public settings. You are not to compromise the mission by attracting the attention of local law enforcement. Do you understand?"

"Yes," replied the predator. "I understand."

"Good," continued the pudgy engineer. "You have one further mission limitation parameter to assimilate."

"Continue."

"You will not, by direct action, cause the death of any human being in the course of your mission. Is that understood?"

"Request clarification. Define 'cause the death of'."

"You shall not take action that will result in physical trauma to any living human body that has a greater than fifty percent probability of causing death. Access your database records on pre-hospital trauma intervention and emergency medical protocols to assist with probability assessment."

"Understood. Request clarification. Specify tolerance on fifty percent probability."

Hyosuke felt an uncharacteristic twinge in his conscience as he absorbed the persocom's request. "Plus or minus three percent," he answered. He watched as Ragnar's eyes flashed with processor activity, accessing databases and calculating probabilities.

"Parameters assimilated," Ragnar stated.

As Gakuto and Hyosuke turned their attention to their notes, the machine returned his unblinking blue eyes to the chair embedded in the wall and smiled briefly, before again becoming a wooden and unmoving feature of the room.

Continued...


	11. The Gathering Storm

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: Moving right along...

---****---

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Ch. 11: The Gathering Storm.

---****---

Hideki stared in shock at the hand on his arm, and its owner, Dita.

For the third time in as many days, Dita was waiting for him in the lobby of his prep school. Each time, Dita hauled the confused ronin to a tea shop, or quiet pub to review his class work, further tutor him in his lessons, and, invariably, discuss his relationship with Chii. With each interaction, Dita was forced to revise her assumptions and extrapolations about the young man. Each time, new and persistent signals were aroused by the quiet revelations he delivered about his feelings for Chii, and his desire to help her and all persocoms achieve their full potential as feeling and aware beings. Dita found the sensations to be irresistible, and without consciously realizing it, was basking in the notion that love might actually be possible for her.

_She's really taking this tutoring agreement seriously_, Hideki thought, as she yet again guided him out onto the streets of Tokyo. After a brief walk and they were seated in an isolated booth in an out-of-the-way tea shop, she held out her hand, and in a mock serious tone, demanded, "Let's see it."

From his knapsack, Hideki withdrew the results of a midterm calculus exam, and handed them over with a flourish. "I think you'll be pleased," he said.

"Ninety-three! Good work, Hideki!" she reached out and gave his arm a congratulatory squeeze, setting off alarm bells in Hideki's head. "I knew you could do it," she said. Following Hideki's astonished gaze to her hand, she blushed, releasing her grip. The rush of signals that accompanied the physical contact was…intoxicating.

"I can hardly wait to show Chii," Hideki gushed. "She'll probably be happier about it than I am." It was too late to pretend he didn't notice the affectionate gesture, but he decided that protesting or otherwise calling attention to it was a minefield he had no desire to navigate. "I really appreciate all your help," he continued, "and I still don't understand how you got me the days off work at My Pleasure. Anyway, I couldn't have done it without your help. So how's Zima? Are you guys finding any more persocoms that need our help?"

_He's actually kind of amusing when he gets flustered and rambles on like that_, thought Dita. She chuckled softly, and the reassuring sound confused Hideki greatly. "First, my help came as part of an agreement, and while we haven't yet brought any couples to you for your advice or support, the data I've assimilated from you concerning your relationship with Chii has been invaluable. Your manager at My Pleasure was most cooperative when we told him we'd reimburse the expense of a temporary replacement, _provided_ he kept your job open for you. I'm sure it helped when I suggested that you were temporarily assisting a government agency with field testing of a mysterious new type of persocom. Zima's just fine, and our focus right now is on isolating and eliminating the failure mode that immobilizes the newly awakened. We're very close, now, thanks to the help of you and your friends."

"Well, I didn't really do that much. It was mostly my friends," he said, nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"Zima and I couldn't have gained the support and advice of your friends without your endorsement, and for that, we thank you," she paused a moment, hesitant to continue. "There's another thing I've been meaning to say to you, Hideki."

"…" Hideki froze, mentally poising himself to flee.

"I'm sorry," Dita said softly. "About everything. I'm sorry about calling you Meatbag, about assuming the worst about you without the data to support my conclusions. I'm sorry I threatened you and your Chobit. After getting to know you a little, I've had to revise at least a gigabyte of relational data. I…just needed to say that."

Hideki tried furiously to adjust his thoughts from their previous survival mode. _Has she been hacked?_ he asked himself. Unsure of the safest answer, he returned to his nervous neck-rubbing. "Errr…it's okay?" he ventured. "You couldn't have known any better. I mean, your programming as a firewall and protector would have made you a little paranoid and hostile to anyone you don't know, right?"

Dita placed a few bank notes on the table and started to get up out of the booth. "That's certainly part of it. There are other factors that I won't go into just yet; just know that I'm glad I had the opportunity to amend the Hideki Motosuwa records in my database."

His mind whirling, Hideki followed her absently to the street outside. "I have to go meet Zima now, and I'm sure you want to get home to your cute little girlfriend, so I'll bid you farewell." Dita's tone was slightly teasing.

Finally remembering his manners, Hideki bowed and said a polite "Good night." The instant he straightened however, Dita darted in, embracing him tightly, and said, "Good night, Hideki-kun," in low voice. As abruptly as she hugged him, she released him, and strode off down the sidewalk, leaving the gob smacked young man in front of the tea shop. She smiled enigmatically to herself as she let the tingle of sensations from the embrace drain away. _These are emotions_, she thought to herself in wonder. _I'm really experiencing true emotions. Soon, I'll be ready. Just a little more experimentation and analysis, and I'll be ready to tell Zima just how I _feel_ about him. Just a little more time with Hideki…_

---****---

"So what are our alternatives?" Minoru asked. Chitose had opted for a meeting at the Kokubunji estate, where their privacy could be better assured. It was agreed upon from the outset that Chii and Hideki were not to be informed of at least one of the options for re-initiating Chii's broadcast to the persocom population at large. Hideki, Chitose quipped, would likely run out and set fire to Dita immediately, just as a precaution, in case she got any ideas.

"Resetting Chii is simply not an option," Chitose asserted. "I couldn't bring myself to do that over again, under any circumstances. I simply can't do that to Hideki, either."

"We'd better have some other options to explore when we brief Zima and Dita," said Minoru. "They certainly won't overlook that possibility, and I don't think Dita will have the same reservations that we will."

Chitose thought for a moment, and continued, "Resetting Chii wouldn't work, anyway." As the others looked at her questioningly, she continued, "We could reset Chii, and set her and Hideki up in exactly the same circumstances, but the one thing we can't do is reset _him_. The simple fact is that as they have grown together through their relationship, Hideki has changed, matured. He is not the same clumsy, somewhat perverted boy that activated Chii. As he is now, he may not be a newly-initiated Chii's Only One. Hideki then and Chii then were a perfect congruence of circumstances, resulting ultimately in the Awakening. It is no longer possible for those same circumstances to exist."

"So, the reset option is off the table," Yuzuki joined the discussion. "And we have sufficient rationale not to pursue it further. What's the likelihood of accessing her system directly and forcing execution of the broadcast event in some sort of debug mode?"

"That depends on the level of diagnostics available at the terminal interface," Minoru replied. Turning to Chitose, he asked, "Does she have a user-accessible diagnostic or test mode; one capable of selecting a specific event module and forcing execution?"

Chitose shook her head. "Only very basic system status and integrity," she said. "The sheer volume of compiled code required us to keep frills like that to a bare minimum. Most of the modular testing and debug in the development stage was done offline, on a similar, but not identical processing platform in the lab. Her primary user interface was to be her five senses, and her voice. Ichiro and I specifically designed her _not_ to be used in the fashion you're suggesting."

Minoru was unable to keep the disappointment from his face. "So, what if we simply asked her to run the event routine again?" he asked. "Would she, herself, be able to execute the task?"

Chitose nodded solemnly. "Yes, that would be the best and most reliable way to do it, but…"

"She's not functioning at a level that would allow her to understand and perform such a request," Yuzuki broke in. "She's still so childlike and naïve. In her current state, there's no way we could make her understand what we wanted her to do."

"With Hideki's companionship, her growth has accelerated," said Chitose, "but she still has yet to fully realize herself and her capabilities. Hideki can help hurry the process further, but he has to do some growing up of his own. Given time, I have no doubt of the outcome; but how much time do we have?"

"So in reality, it all depends on Hideki," suggested Minoru.

Chitose nodded. "It always did."

---****---

Later that evening, Chitose repeated the nearly-forgotten weekly ritual of intercepting Hideki and Chii, and waving them into her unit. With a briefly questioning look, Hideki scooped up Chii's hand in his, followed Chitose to the kotatsu. In addition to the ever-present tea tray, there was a small metallic case prominently in the middle of the low table.

After they were all seated with tea in hand, Chitose took a hesitant breath, and then spoke. "I'm glad to finally have a chance to talk to the two of you. Things have obviously been very busy for all of us since Zima and Dita enlisted our help."

"That's no joke!" blurted Hideki. "Between Dita's tutoring and questions about our relationship, and trying to spend more time with Chii, we've barely seen each other over the past few weeks. How's the work on the Awakening coming? Dita seemed to think we were close."

Chitose displayed a hopeful smile. "We've identified why the Awakened are becoming immobilized or shut down, and we know roughly how we can fix it. We just need a bit more work on the implementation. It's looking very positive, at the moment. Speaking of spending more time with Chii, how are things between the two of you?"

Hideki's blush was brief and subtle. "Uh…We're making progress, for sure. Chii's becoming very affectionate, and seems to be expressing herself much more…directly. She's speaking much more naturally, and even taught herself fluent English." He made a show of draping an arm around Chii, drawing her in close. "I'm also getting more comfortable with my own displays of affection, a little at a time."

"I like it when Hideki touches me. I can feel things when he does. Nice things." Chii chose that moment to join the discussion, and it was Chitose's turn to enhance the color of her cheeks with a tinge of red.

"Remember what I said about small steps," Chitose admonished the couple. "There's a specific reason I wanted to talk to you tonight. You _do_ remember that you've activated emotions in other persocoms, don't you? Good. One couple in particular is apparently deliriously happy with their new relationship, and wanted to thank you. I'm not sure the gift they're offering is what I'd want for the two of you, but I promised I'd let you both consider it." She slid the mysterious metal case across the table to Chii. "These are from Minoru and Yuzuki."

Chii carefully opened the case. Seeing the human like ears, complete with auditory hardware and tactile sensory interface, her hands drifted up to the side of her own head, gingerly touching the connector housings that marked her unmistakably as a persocom.

"This is for both of you to decide," Chitose's tone was serious. "This makes Chii more likely to pass for human. It also very suddenly and sharply removes a psychological barrier that you're both very accustomed to. You need to consider this very carefully."

Chii, only barely heeding Chitose's words, had turned her attention to Hideki's ears, brushing her fingertips along the outside, almost reverently. Hideki's reaction was immediate. Flinching at the ticklish sensation, and suppressing a giggle, he rolled his neck, shivering slightly. Chii, seeing the reaction, looked at Chitose questioningly.

"Hideki must be ticklish on his ears," Chitose explained. Noting Chii's unsure tilt of her head, she went on, "It's a very difficult sensation to describe; it's something you'd have to feel for yourself."

Chii's response was immediate. "Then Chii wants the ears. I want to feel 'ticklish'. Hideki, can I have them, please?"

Chitose sighed in resignation as Hideki, unable to refuse his precious Chii anything, said, "Of course, if that's what you want."

---****---

The room now more resembled a bio-mechanical abattoir, than the office/lab/bedroom in a lavish mansion that it was. The floor, walls, and ceiling were decorated generously with the viscous, straw-colored fluid that served persocoms as a coolant and lubricant. Drops of the oily substance pattered from the ceiling into the pools on the floor, while rivulets formed from the spattered patterns that found a home on the walls. The source of the fluid was the half-dozen or so brutally disassembled persocoms that had once maintained the home.

The electronic gate had been easily defeated, and entry to the mansion was a simple matter of brute force applied to the unfortunate front door. Once he had seized his quarry, Ragnar simply informed the household staff of persocoms that their attempted departure would result in the disassembly of their master, rather than themselves. Whether their devotion was the result of clever programming, or some delusional sense of attachment to their owner didn't really matter to him; it yielded the results he required. After securing the helpless master of the house, Ragnar set himself to work. A brief examination of the persocom's activity logs showed that they had, indeed, been in direct connection with the so-called Chobit, making his course of action clear. He tore each and every one of them apart. Slowly and methodically.

Being programmed as an organized and systematic sort of persocom, Ragnar sorted the parts as he removed them. Distantly humming "Ride of the Valkyries", he twisted and pulled the limbs off each persocom, stacking them neatly into gruesome piles of mechanical arms and legs. Oblivious to the muffled screaming and tears of their owner, he returned to each torso, tearing out battery packs and hard drive units. Two more neat piles of components were formed. Finally, each head was wrenched off in turn, the last being absently retained in his grasp as he lectured his luckless host.

"For someone so legendary for their elusiveness, you were remarkably easy to locate," said the blue-eyed giant of a man, almost conversationally. "One could almost say that you wanted to be found." He regarded the severed head of the custom persocom in his hands blandly as he spoke, not even making eye contact with the bound and gagged occupant of the opulent office chair in front of him. Negligently dropping the grisly object, he finally glanced at his prisoner disdainfully. "There is a word in English that describes it perfectly, you know; 'hubris'. An arrogance of pride. Maybe tonight's experiences will be a lesson in humility for you." The smile he offered was a simple display of teeth, completely vacant of any humor or warmth.

"Let us get down to business, shall we?" the monstrous ersatz gaijin said. "Just so we decisively establish our respective roles in this brief relationship, I am going to break one of your fingers. After which, I will remove your gag, and ask you a question. Please keep in mind, when forming your answer, exactly how many fingers you humans possess."

Fresh tears of anguish flowed as Ragnar advanced on his prey, grasping the left wrist in a vice like grip. A moment, and a sickening cracking sound later, the muffled screams and sobs of terror became muted howls of pain. He waited patiently for the noise to subside to a defeated whimper, and with a sharp motion, removed the duct tape gag from his prisoner's mouth.

"M?" he asked.

"Minoru Kokubunji," sobbed Yoshiyuki Kojima, a.k.a. the "Dragonfly", without a second's hesitation.

---****---

Continued...


	12. A Modest Proposal

Disclaimer: CLAMP owns Chobits, and does not return my phone calls.

A/N: Surprise! No, I haven't abandoned this fic, nor do I have any intention to do so. I could say that I haven't been getting enough reviews to motivate me (heh), but the truth is, work has been most relentless in its interference into more important matters, like writing, skydiving, and golfing.

---****---

Chobits: Care & Maintenance of a Heart & Soul

Ch. 12: A Modest Proposal.

---****---

In very short order after questioning his prisoner, Ragnar had transmitted a dispatch to the Agency, requesting custodial transfer and site cleanup. After the Dragonfly was transferred to an ambulance under guard, an Agency security detail took charge of the scene. It was nearly an hour before the first police unit arrived, and was courteously but firmly informed that the so-called crime scene was under the jurisdiction of the Japanese Intelligence Service, and their services would not be required that night. A brief glance at the proffered identification, and the heavily-armed, black-garbed men surrounding the property were all that was required to persuade the police officers to depart, with a polite promise to note the incident in their shift report.

Only minutes after the dismissal of the police, two engineers of the Agency arrived on site to assess the aftermath.

"Marvelous." Gakuto surveyed the carnage with satisfaction as Ragnar gave a brief summary of the events of the evening. Turning to the persocom, he said, "Return to headquarters for debrief and inspection. Await our return."

Hyosuke, watching the blond giant of a persocom, couldn't be certain, but thought he caught a fleeting moment of disappointment in Ragnar's expression. "Would it not be more expedient to continue my investigation and pursuit forthwith?" the persocom asked.

"No," said his creator. "You've already accomplished more in three days than 1046-Delta and 1046-Zebra have in three months. No need to rush."

With a curt nod, the blue-eyed monster strode purposefully toward the entrance of the mansion.

"This is getting out of control," Hyosuke said as soon as the persocom was out of the house. "He _tortured_ that young man. Instead of merely shutting down the suspect persocoms, he physically _tore them apart_. It was like he was _enjoying_ this."

Gakuto glanced around the room at the cleanup technicians, who were currently bagging the remains of the disassembled persocoms. "Gentlemen, let us have this room please," his tone was that of a command, not request. Watching them file out, he waited until the room was clear before turning a flinty glare on Hyosuke. "Don't ever question our activities or methods in front of others again," he hissed. "What we do, we do for the good of Japan! If some individual citizen's comfort and well being needs to be forfeit for the good of the Empire that is exactly what will happen! If _you_ are too weak to be an instrument of that imperative, then you will be cast aside and replaced. Do you understand?"

Hyosuke gaped in alarm at the glint of madness in Gakuto's eyes, and then quickly bowed his head submissively. "It is not that I lack the will to be your instrument, sensei. I am concerned that we have taken up an instrument that we have not learned to control properly. The persocom is not behaving according to the parameters we initially crafted for it. What other surprises does this machine hold for us? Can we rely on it to destroy the Chobit, as programmed? As an engineer, I am suspicious of any system that strays so far from its configuration. Aren't you?"

Gakuto allowed himself a predatory smile. "What makes you think he's not following his programming?" Hyosuke looked up at his superior in shock. "Your control architecture is brilliant, and your inputs into the behavioral matrix admirable, but you have completely missed the point. Ragnar is _not_ programmed to destroy the Chobit. He is following _my_ agenda to the keystroke. I have no intention of allowing technology like the Chobit to simply evaporate from existence. It is my objective to possess this technology, and put it to productive use for the good of a strong and independent Japan!"

Hyosuke's eyes widened by degrees as Gakuto's voice increased in pitch and volume. "What possible productive use could the Chobit be?" he asked. "To what purpose would we apply the technological wonder of producing an excessively cute, naïve, and emotional child's toy?" Hyosuke's anxiety and horror had finally overcome his submissive instincts, giving way to increasing sarcasm. "What great and terrible contrivance would we gain from it that we have not already achieved?"

"Look around you," Gakuto replied, gesturing to the scene of carnage. "This is the result of rational and logical conclusions arrived at without the encumbrance of moral inhibition. Ragnar's a wonderful gadget, like a guided missile, but his emotional responses are crude and unsophisticated. The Chobit is the only processor-based personality currently in existence that is capable of advanced emotional responses, and I want that technology.

"There are those in the government who believe that Japan must return to its Imperial roots. To be strong again, not only economically, but as a world power; an ordering influence in our corner of the world. I intend to deliver the means to that end. Imagine; a new generation of main battle tank, capable of actually throwing a temper tantrum; an unmanned fighter aircraft, with all the creativity, arrogance, and bravado of a human pilot; a truly superhuman, mass-produced shinobi as an instrument of our will. Japan is an economic and technological powerhouse, but far too dependent on the American barbarians for our ability to repel potential invasions, or project our will beyond our shores.

"First, we will restore Japan to its former glory by sweeping away the puppets of Western influence, and restoring the Emperor to his rightful place as our true spiritual and political leader. Then, _we_ shall assume _our_ rightful place as the principal power of the Pacific Rim!" Gakuto's eyes were bulging in a display of righteous fervor, while Hyosuke simply gaped, his expression a horrified mask of fascination and revulsion.

---****---

Chii was dreaming. It was not a completely new occurrence for her, as she had experienced dreams on at least two other occasions since the Event. Both times were pleasant recollections of events past, as if someone had called up the memory files and simply replayed them into her senses as she slept. Her previous dreams, featuring the night Hideki activated her, profoundly affected her memories of that experience, as she relived that night in the context of her fully developed awareness and emotions. Now, any time she recalled that dream, she had to stifle a fit of giggling at the antics of her shy, perverted Only One that night.

Tonight's feature presentation was different. It was not a simple replay of stored memories. The events of this dream never took place. Not _yet_, anyway.

Chii's dream started innocently enough. Hideki was seated at his kotatsu table, studying as usual. Chii was finishing up the dishes from dinner. Chii sidled up behind him and started massaging his shoulders, as she had done on several other occasions. Hideki, after only a few moments of this, groaned softly in contentment and rolled his head back, enjoying Chii's attention to his stiff muscles.

It was at this point that the events of her dream diverted from history. Seized by a compulsion that she sometimes felt, but always, until now, suppressed, Chii leaned forward, placing a soft, tentative kiss on the side of Hideki's neck, just where it met his shoulder. Then another. And another. With each successive contact her lips made, her kisses moved up along his neck, and her hands slid over his shoulders to his chest, gripping tightly to press herself against his back. Hideki's hand moved up to stroke her hair, as he turned his head toward her. Chii's lips broke contact only long enough to find Hideki's, kissing him firmly now, with renewed purpose driven by the flaring of signals in her sensory processors.

With astonishing ease, Chii turned Hideki around and pounced on him, forcing him to his back on the low table. Pressing her full length onto him, her lips resumed their previous activity while her hands kneaded the contours of his chest. She could feel his heart rate and breathing increasing as Hideki returned her kisses, his own hands roaming up and down her back from shoulders to hips, setting off fresh waves physical sensations. Pushing herself up off him slightly, Chii sought her reflection in his eyes, curious to see her own face reflected in the eyes of her love. As he looked up at her questioningly, she caught a glimpse of the reflection in his eyes; a reflection of dark, red-tinged eyes, and jet-black bangs.

Chii bolted upright in the futon, fully awake, with the remnants of the sensory signals from her dream still ringing through her system.

"What the…"

---****---

"…hell was that?" Dita shot up to a sitting position in her futon like she'd been electrocuted. Signals raced through her sensory network, draining away as she returned to fully awake operation. "Did I just have a dream?" she asked herself in equal parts fear and wonderment.

Her sudden movement and shocked outburst stirred Zima to wakefulness. Turning on the bedside lamp and looking at Dita quizzically, he asked, "What is it, Dita? Do you detect something?"

Dita, almost absently, replied, "No, not like an approaching threat, or anything. It's just…" She straightened and locked her eyes directly on his. "I need to tell you something important."

---****---

Ragnar strode through the streets of Tokyo, seeming to any outside observer to be a wandering foreign tourist, taking in the sights of the city. Passers-by gave him a wide berth, sometimes staring, sometimes not; but avoiding the large and presumably clumsy gaijin as if he was diseased. The blond giant paid no attention whatsoever to the swarm of humanity around him. The steady stream of overworked salary men, night clubbers, and shoppers were utterly beneath his notice. His attention was on the ethereal signals that permeated the air; the packets of data streaming from persocoms, cell phones, and hot spots. He was seeking his next target.

_Return to base?_ he thought. _For what possible purpose would I abandon my hunt now? I'm so close; I can almost smell the little freak of technology. No, the hunt won't end until I've secured the Chobit, and deleted every single sentience, artificial or otherwise, that knows any more about what she is than "urban legend"._

Ragnar's interrogation of the hapless "Dragonfly" had yielded a gold mine of information. 'M' was an enigma in the custom persocom community; almost an urban legend himself, according to the data supplied by the Agency. But now Ragnar had a name to attach to the enigma. A quick search then turned up a picture of the mysterious Minoru Kokubunji; a picture of 'M', and a girl. More questions followed. Who was she? Oh, she's a persocom? When was she constructed? Custom built? What interfaces does she have? Firewire, USB, and Ethernet; all in one? Oh, CANBus, too? A quick Internet search showed only three models of persocom interface module to include CANBus protocols. A moderately simple hack into the sales records of the suppliers yielded a surprisingly short list of sales during the appropriate time frame and only one sale to the appropriate prefecture of the Tokyo area. Another hack, and now Ragnar had the data he required; a Media Access Control address or MAC address, which was burned into the module at the factory. It was unique, it was permanent, and now, it was useful. He was now actively searching data packet headers for the unique identifier of a persocom.

_Yuzuki is a much nicer name than 00:0F:56:A4:EA:5D_, he mused absently to himself as he continued to filter data out of the flock of signals saturating the cool evening air.

Continued…


End file.
